The Cherubs
by Unproper Grammar
Summary: Troy Bolton's life is upside down. His parents are MIA, his best friend Gabriella is acting like a psycho, and now a very blonde, naked angel—an actual celestial being—has taken refuge in his treehouse. And she's determined to turn things right side up.
1. Treehouse

---

**The Cherubs**

Chapter One: _Treehouse_

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_I have a Guardian Angel,_

_She doesn't grant wishes,_

_Or sprinkle fairy-dust._

_Rather she tells me when I should,_

_When I shouldn't,_

_And when I must._

**Mandy Salter**

Angels are generally known as mythical creatures. Beautiful and perfect, stunning and fragile, but certainly not real. Just figments of people's imaginations. Something to make them feel better, something to make them keep pushing on. Something people use to promote hope and serenity. I guess you could kind of liken them to religion.

Oh, shit, that sounds like I'm saying religion is a crock. It isn't, honest, or at least, I think so. I mean, I'm sure some of them out there are, I mean, I don't know a lot of scientologists that people take seriously. Oh shit, I just insulted scientologists. I am sorry, seriously. I am sure Xenu will have his way with me when the time comes. Oh for the love of, that sounds so wrong, I did not mean it that way.

I'm rambling. Here's the thing, let's be scientific for three seconds and forget religion and myth and whatever, I am not saying the two are related. But what I am saying is that there's no proof of any of it. Of religion, of heaven, of angels. They are about as likely as unicorns. We, as humans, are taught to believe in the rational, the obvious. Two plus two equals four, the sky is blue, nothing is free and if it's in _Star_ magazine, it ain't true.

But the thing is, we as humans kind of suck. We start wars and are mean, vindictive and unpleasant. There's so little love, so little care in the world, that quite frankly, no wonder we don't believe in the pleasant theories the world presents us. We are too hardened, too angry, too interested in waiting for Robert Pattinson to hook up with his co-star. Essentially, we are vain, vile creatures.

It's like, if someone asked you not to believe in the wind, surely you'd laugh at them. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there?

So just because you can't see heaven, just because you can't see angels, doesn't mean they don't exist, right?

The answer lies with me and I'm about to tell you how I figured it out and dude, it wasn't easy. I'll probably offend you about thirty more times before we get to the end of this, so if you are super sensitive or some bull, you might wanna back out now.

Like most epically ridiculous stories, mine started at a high school. I was seventeen and that can pretty much sum up my mentality and personality. Hold on to this knowledge while I tell my tale.

It will help explain a lot of my shitty decisions as well as give me a good excuse as to why I was such an idiot.

Hopefully.

---

"_Dude, seriously, tonight is the night, I can feel it in my fucking bones!" Chad said wildly as Troy maneuvered his white truck down the street, the music blasting from his shitty, secondhand sound system. "We are going to get so fucking wasted and we are going to hook up with the hottest chicks in town!"_

"_You two," Gabriella's voice came from the backseat, "are pigs. Have I told you I hate you lately?"_

_Chad laughed uproariously and Troy nodded, glancing at her in his rearview mirror, grinning. She stuck her tongue out at him._

"_Only everyday, Gabs," Chad retorted, laughing._

"_Hey!" Troy called back to her, "I would just like to point out that I never said anything about getting wasted or hooking up with anyone."_

_Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Right. Not like you weren't thinking about it."_

_Troy laughed. "Okay, you got me there."_

"_Asshole!" Gabriella yelled as she kicked the back of his seat, causing Troy to lurch forward._

"_Hey!" he protested, "don't be such a bitch, Gabi!" he smiled at her again softly, genuinely. "You know you're my number one girl."_

_A soft blush spread across Gabriella's cheeks and she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, pretending to roll her eyes again. "Okay, whatever, Romeo."_

_There was a pause as Chad looked between the two of them, shifting in his seat, before laughing again. "Oh god, you guys are such idiots."_

"_What is that supposed to mean?" Troy asked, glaring as they rolled to a stop at the red light. "I think that was uncalled for, don't you, Brie?"_

"_Yeah!" she pipped up, leaning over the side of Troy's seat. "I object!"_

"_You two need to chill!" Chad said with a chuckle. "I mean, come on! We're two weeks away from starting our junior year—shit is gonna get real soon! We need to fuck around and have as much fun as possible. Agreed?"_

_Glancing back at Gabriella over his shoulder, they shared a grin and nodded. "You know it!" Troy said, knocking his fist with Gabriella's. She smiled back at him._

"_We're gonna rule the school this year, the three of us," Chad said fondly._

"_Hey, what if I decide to go and branch out this year?" Gabriella asked coyly, "you know get some female friends of my own?"_

"_Ha ha, as if, Gabs," Chad said as the light turned green and Troy began to cross the intersection. "we're gonna be friends for life, till the day we die, till—"_

_His sentence was cut off as the black van ran through the red light and collided with his side of the truck and Gabriella screamed. Then—_

Troy sprung up in bed, a thin layer of cold sweat clinging to his body. He panted heavily, his heart racing. Raising a trembling hand to run through his hair, he tried desperately to calm down.

It was that dream again, the same one he had been having at least once a week for the past year. The one that haunted him everyday.

The one that reminded him that Chad Danforth, his best friend and brother, was dead.

Sitting up in bed, he tried to still his breathing. God, why couldn't he just move past this? Why couldn't he heal? More than that, however, why did Chad have to die? Why did he have to be on the opposite side of the truck, why did the driver have to run through the red light, why—

He stopped. It was too early for this, too early for the same thoughts that had been running through his head everyday since it had happened. He needed to shower, he needed to eat something, he needed to think of a way to get Gabriella to let him copy her math homework. Shuddering, he pushed the thoughts of that terrible August day to the back of his mind and stumbled into the kitchen. He sighed, noticing that his dishes from the dinner he had cooked the night before were still sitting in the sink.

His parents still weren't home.

His father, Jack Bolton, was the assistant coach for the LA Lakers. How he had gotten the gig two years ago, Troy was constantly wondering, especially since they lived in fucking Albuquerque. But he did and this meant traveling for the majority of the year. It also meant that his mother was infinitely lonely, so this meant she traveled with him.

Which meant that Troy was alone for the better part of his days. It hadn't always been like this; he used to wake up to a warm greeting from his mother followed by a warm breakfast. This should have been every teenager's dream, no parents around most of the time. Total freedom. But to Troy, it was lonely; ridiculously lonely. There was no one there to make sure he ate well, no one there to pressure him to play in all of his basketball games. No one there to make sure he was home by curfew, no one there to _set_ a curfew.

Sure, they came home every once in a while, for a few days, sometimes a few weeks at a time, but it wasn't the same. Troy's mother had, at first, considered staying home but she was too attached, too in love with Jack to bear being separated for such lengthy periods of time. They had wanted Troy to come with him, promised they'd get him a tutor...but he thought of it as a waste of time. He wanted the high school experience, he wanted the lame classes and he wanted to be with Gabriella, the only tie he had left to when things didn't suck epically. But things in Albuquerque always sucked, epically or not, but especially since Chad's death. The demons and the ghosts had taken to the house, to the city, to the school and they haunted Troy every time he turned a corner.

It was his prison.

School was, quite frankly, an even worse prison than his home. He had racked up quite the reputation his junior year, talking back to teachers and skipping classes. It wasn't as if he was a bad student—he still managed Bs and Cs—just that he hated it there. He hated the teachers, he hated the food and any chance he could muster to get out of there, he would take. Principal Matsui, however, didn't appreciate seeing Troy in his office for his biweekly visit and had informed him that he was currently one suspension away from being expelled. Well, that was lame, but somehow, he still allowed Troy to be on the basketball team, so Troy wasn't taking his threat very seriously.

He did stop mimicking Ms. Thompson behind her back, though. Just in case.

The only thing that didn't make him want to throw himself out the second story during third period biology was Gabriella. Gabriella Montez.

Gabriella had been Troy's best friend for as long as he could remember. She was a crucial part of the team he and Chad had created, the friends forming quite the inseparable trio. Of the few memories he had before the age of four, Gabriella was in all of them. Every other monumental occasion in his life since then, she had been present and over the last year, Troy had been forever grateful to have her by his side. She was there in the accident as well, had shattered her wrist and gotten a concussion. If there was anyone in the world who could understand what he was going through, it was Gabriella. She was funny and witty and probably the kindest person he knew, always offering her shoulder for him to lean on. She was also smart, smart to the point where he would have considered it obnoxious had she not been lenient enough to let him copy her math problems every once in a while.

Yes, Gabriella had been Troy's saving grace. Up until recently.

"Wow!" a male voice said from behind Troy later that morning. He let out a low whistle before continuing. "Would you check out the stems on Montez! God, she's a hottie!"

"What I would kill to bang that!" another voice said and Troy gripped the sides of the table angrily. That was his best friend they were talking about!

Gabriella flounced into the room, her long dark hair straightened and falling down her back. She was dressed in a violet wool skirt that hit mid-thigh, a form-fitting mustard yellow v-neck sweater and black thigh-high socks. She smiled brightly when she saw Troy and waved excitedly, oblivious to the stares and dropped jaws as she passed the rest of the male population of the class.

"Troy!" she said happily, sliding into the desk beside him, "good morning!"

He turned to her slowly, folding his arms over his chest and looked her up and down. He felt his cheeks grow hot at the sight of the bare skin between her skirt and socks. What the fuck was she wearing? Did she not realize the kind of attention she was getting? Did it not bother her?

"Good morning," he said, averting his eyes. Seriously, what was she wearing?

She tossed her long dark hair over her shoulder and smiled at him sweetly. "I made the best breakfast this morning, Troy, you would have been so impressed." Gabriella, for all of her talents, was a terrible cook and had recently been trying very hard at improving her skills. Despite what she was telling him about the positive result of her morning meal, he somehow doubted it.

"Oh, really?" he asked, feeling his face flush as he glanced at her again. God, there was her cleavage! Oh, and look, leg!

"Yeah, I made waffles with strawberries and..." she paused, noticing the odd expression he was wearing. "Are you okay?"

Oh, to hell with it. "Gabriella" he said stiffly, his eyes trying to focus on her face. God, she was like his sister, what was she doing?! "What are you wearing?"

Gabriella's face fell and Troy instantly felt bad. "What are you talking about?"

"Your little ensemble," Troy continued, though he knew he should stop. "What the hell is up with it?"

"What's wrong with my outfit?" Gabriella asked slowly, her face not bellying her confusion. "I think it's cute."

"Cute?" Troy said, astounded. "Cute? Are you crazy? Gabriella, this is so not you."

"I was trying something different," she said defensively. "Besides, I thought you said I looked nice in yellow. You said so at my barbeque last week."

Troy rolled his eyes. God, sometimes it was hard being best friends with a girl. "I only said you looked nice," he explained, "not that you looked nice in yellow. And besides, you did look nice that day. This morning, however..."

"Are you saying I don't look nice?" she hissed, "is that what you're getting at?"

"N-no!" Troy stammered, before shaking his head. "I mean, yes! You are dressed far too revealing for a girl of your age!"

"What are you even talking about?" Gabriella demanded, turning around her seat so she was facing the front of the room. "That dress I was wearing was shorter than this skirt! And I'm older than you!"

"Yes, but only I was around to see it!" he felt the words tumble from his mouth and Gabriella's head shot over to him. Shit, that was wrong, he needed to reiterate. "I am like your brother, I don't care if I see you like that. These guys, however..."

"What about these guys?" she asked, gesturing around to the people in the classroom. "No one has said anything."

At this, Troy laughed. "Gabriella! Fuck, every single male in this class is undressing you with his eyes."

Gabriella crossed her arms over her chest self-consciously, her face turning a light pink shade. "Every male?" she questioned quietly.

"Yes!" he said, feeling annoyed that she wasn't getting it. "Well, except for me of course, but everyone else! They can't—"

He noticed that Gabriella had grown quiet and he instantly felt guilty. He saw the embarrassed flush on her cheeks and her eyes were glassy. His heart fell to his stomach however, when he saw that she was biting her lip and that her chin was trembling. Shit, she was trying not to cry. Shit, he had made her cry.

"Brie," he said, using the pet name he had given her as children, hoping it would prove that he was just looking out of her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"

"Give me your sweater," she said hurriedly, not turning to look at him. "Please."

Troy blinked. "My sweater? What's that going to do? It's not going to make your skirt longer."

"It'll cover up mine at least," Gabriella hissed, glaring as her cheeks grew hotter by the second. "It has your number on the back so that will at least stop the staring. I don't want _them_ staring! You've made me feel self-conscious."

"What, Gabriella," Troy frowned. "Why would you wear something like that if you didn't want people looking?"

"I said I didn't want _them_ staring," she said, pointedly, growing slightly frantic. "I wore it for—" she slapped a hand over her mouth, "oh, _nevermind_!"

"Them? Are you saying that you _wanted _someone to stare at you?" his words came out in a rush, his own cheeks flushing at the insinuation that she was hoping someone would ogle her exposed legs. "Who? Who is it Gabi?"

"Maybe!" she said sternly, "but he's an idiot who is completely oblivious to everything I do, apparently!"

"Then he's not worth your time!" Troy spit, "why would you even bother to feel the need to dress up for some guy?"

Gabriella sighed loudly, her eyes big and watery. "Forget it! I can't explain it to you, you're the thickest person I know. Give me your sweater _now_. It's the least that you can do since you've ruined my morning."

Unzipping his red Wildcat hoodie, Troy furrowed his brows, feeling infinitely bad. "I didn't mean to ruin your morning," he said softly, "I just was looking out for you."

"Yeah, well, you did," she said, holding her hand out. He extended the sweater to her and she grabbed it, slipping her arms in the sleeves. "You know, I was feeling really good about myself this morning, really excited about this outfit and as usual, you ended up making me feel like crap."

"Gabriella—"

"You know, sometimes I wonder why I'm even best friends with a guy," she said, pulling her binder out of her tote bag, "you never understand things like this and the worst part is that you should! You're completely frustrating!"

Troy gaped. "I'm completely frustrating? Are you kidding me? What about you?" Gabriella scoffed and he continued. "What is with you lately? You're dressing all...all girlie! And wearing make-up!"

Gabriella turned to him then and he saw the angry fire in her eyes. Oh shit, why couldn't he learn to shut up?

"I should be allowed to dress however I please for whomever I please, Troy!" she said angrily, her fists clenched and her eyes shimmering.

"Sorry that I'm just alerting you that every guy in this room now wants to fuck you," Troy said diplomatically, folding his arms. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and watched her crumple.

"Fuck you," she whispered, before turning to the front of the class. Troy frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but just then, their homeroom teacher, Ms. Darbus entered, and he was silenced.

"Good morning, class!" she said brightly, and began quickly listing her announcements for the morning. Math peer tutoring was canceled, band practice had been moved to Wednesday, the cafeteria was serving pizza and there was going to be a school dance at the end of the month. She yammered on endlessly, using her hands and dramatic words and Troy had to bit on his tongue to stop from making a snide retort. He glanced at Gabriella, who was still sitting in her desk with her head bowed and he felt his heart clench.

Damn, he was a shitty friend.

As the bell rang, signaling the start of second period, Gabriella bounced out of her desk faster than he expected and he found himself jogging to catch up with her.

"Gabriella!" he called, racing after her. She quickened her pace and he rolled his eyes, barreling forward and lacing his hands around her waist, throwing his weight on her and sending her to the ground.

"Ummph!" Gabriella groaned, feeling the wind knock out of her. "What the hell?"

"I had no choice!" Troy said, helping her up and brushing himself off. "You wouldn't have stopped!"

"You didn't need to tackle me, you asshole!" she croaked, still trying to catch her breath. "You knocked the wind out of me!"

"Oh!" Troy said sheepishly, rubbing her arm soothingly. "I didn't mean to, I just—"

"You just what?" Gabriella asked, her breathing now more even. She pulled his hoodie tighter around her shoulders. "What?"

"I just wanted to apologize," he said slowly, "I was being an ass. You should wear what you want."

Gabriella raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Well," Troy rubbed the back of his neck. "Mostly everything. But nothing that lets other guys see you!"

"I'd argue with you about this further," Gabriella began, "but it's early and we'll just go around in circles. So," she held out her hand, "truce?"

"Truce," he answered with a grin, grabbing her hand with his and the two engaged in the secret handshake that they had spent three afternoons creating when they were nine. "Let me walk you to class?"

Gabriella smiled. "Sure! Why not?" she said brightly. "Hey, are you going to the dance?"

Falling into step with her, Troy furrowed his brows. "No, I wouldn't be caught dead at one of those things."

Beside him, Gabriella sighed and stopped walking. "I figured as much," she mumbled before running to catch up with him.

It should be noted that Gabriella wore his hoodie with his number on the back for the rest of the day. The lewd comments then ceased.

---

"Gabriella, it's alright, just go to sleep," Troy said into the phone hours upon hours later. There was a storm brewing outside, one loud and obnoxious, and Gabriella had always been afraid of them. Although she had refused to speak to him all day, even after he had given her a ride home, he still wasn't surprised when his phone rang with her ringtone shortly after ten o'clock.

"I can't help it, Troy," she whispered and he imagined her cuddled in her bed, her duvet wrapped around her. "It's scary." A clap of thunder echoed over the phone line and in his room and she squealed.

"Do you want me to come over?" he asked, sighing. Whenever there was a storm, Gabriella would call up Troy and he would bring her down from the near hysteric panic attack she would be having. Since she was usually home alone when they happened, he would sometimes walk over and spend the night with her so she could sleep.

"I don't know," she said softly, "it's really coming down out—OH!" she let out another squeak as another crack of thunder rattled through the air. "Seriously, I want you to come, but it's too violent out there."

Troy stood up from his bed as a bolt of lightning pierced through the sky, making his way over to the french doors that led outside. He pulled back his curtain and peered through the window into the backyard. "It really is storming pretty badly out there."

The wind was ripping through the trees, tossing them backwards and forwards, The sky was grey and purple, twirling and swirling, the clouds heavy with the weight of water. Lightning flashed and the clouds crashed and he could practically hear Gabriella shaking on the other end.

"Shit, are you sure you don't want me to come over?" he asked again, "it looks like it's going to be pretty bad."

"No, you'll get soaked," Gabriella said with a sigh. "Just talk to me till it passes."

"Okay," Troy said, still staring outside. Suddenly, he heart something hit the window. Looking closer, he realized it was a piece of ice.

Wait, not just a piece. A _chunk_. Several more followed, tapping on the glass and rattling the panes, pounding on every surface. Gabriella screamed on the other line. It was hailing and badly, the sound was so loud that Troy was even slightly frightened.

"What the fuck?" he exclaimed, backing away slightly.

"Troy come over now!" Gabriella yelped into the phone, "please, please, please! Oh my gosh, I think a window just broke in the kitchen!"

Troy raced away from the window as the hail pounded on it so hard he was sure it would break. It sounded like someone was dumping rocks over every single surface of his house. "Fuck, Brie, I am not coming over now, the hail will kill me. There are hugely massive chunks of ice out there!"

"But Troy!" she whimpered and he bit his lip, hearing the vulnerability and fright in her voice. "Seriously, something broke in the kitchen and I am scared to death. Please, _please_ come, can't you drive?"

"Brie, there is no way in hell I am driving in this weather!" he said quickly, panicked and then he froze when he heard her start to cry. She was sniffling quietly, in that way that he knew she was trying to make it so he couldn't hear.

"Brie, it's okay, it's just a storm," he said gently, hoping she would calm down. The sound of thunder and wind roared through the night and he heard her sniffle loudly.

"I can't h-help it," she whispered, sniffing again. "It's just so scary here all by myself! This house is huge and so dark and everything is so _loud_!"

Unlike Troy, whose parents had been present during his childhood but had just decided to flake out during his adolescence, Gabriella's parents had always been missing in action. Her father had died when she was four and since then, her mother was constantly working, trying to fill the void that had been created when her husband left. Many a night did Gabriella spend with Troy and his family, and for the most part, she handled it well. She was fiercely independent because of it and one of the strongest people Troy knew. But everyone now and then, when there was a storm or a holiday, she got a little quiet and he remembered how lonely she really could be.

"It's okay, Brie, I'm here," he said, sliding down to the floor by his bed. "I'll stay on the phone with you until the storm dies out, okay?"

She paused, her crying ceasing momentarily. "You promise?" she asked quietly.

"I promise," he answered, "now why don't we sing a song or something?"

Gabriella giggled and Troy smiled at the sound. "Are you serious?"

"Oh come on, Brie," he said, annoyed, "you love singing. What's that movie, the one where the lady sings that song to the kids when it rains?"

"_Sound of Music_," Gabriella said scoffing, "you know that very well, we watch it every Christmas. You know all the words."

"Good! It can be a duet, then!" Troy said cheekily. "You start."

On the other line, Gabriella took a deep breath before he heard her quietly murmur the opening lines of the song. "_Raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, white copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings_..."

"_These are a few of my favourite things_," Troy joined in, allowing his voice and the familiar lyrics to lull her to a calm as the rain carried on outside. It pounded on every surface miserably, angrily.

But in their own little bubble, in that moment, Troy and Gabriella didn't feel so bad.

---

Troy awoke on the floor the next morning, his head feeling heavy and his back sore. His phone was still pressed underneath this cheek and it felt hot to the touch. Lifting his head slowly, he peeled it off his cheek and rubbed the skin, feeling the indent of the buttons. He groaned and noticed that Gabriella was still on the other line, and that his battery was nearly dead.

"Brie?" he asked groggily, sitting up. He was met with the sounds of her soft breathing and he let out a sigh, pleased that she was asleep. Flipping his phone shut, he rose and walked over to the doors on the other side of the room.

That was some storm, he thought, one of the scariest ones he had ever seen. Glancing into the backyard he saw that it was in shambles and groaned. Wonderful, he thought, mother nature decided to rip apart his backyard when his parents were out of town, brilliant.

Opening the door to the backyard, he stepped out and surveyed the damage. There were leaves and sticks everywhere and one of the branches of his tree had cracked and fallen. The patio furniture had been flipped and the umbrella had been thrown against the fence, cracking several boards in the process. The umbrella itself was a tangled, broken mess, pieces of metal and wire hanging and sticking out in every which way. Running a hand through his hair, Troy was debating whether it was worth cleaning up or leaving it for his parents, when his eyes fell on his treehouse.

The treehouse had been Troy's place. He and his dad had build it when Troy was young and when basketball hadn't been their whole world. They had spent two whole weeks one summer constructing it from the ground up and it remained to be one of Troy's favourite memories. Everything important had happened to him in the treehouse. It was where he and Chad had become blood brothers, where he and Gabriella shared their first kiss with each other when they were ten out of pure curiosity. The three of them had been a pirates up there, adventurers, superheroes. That was their childhood, it was all Troy had left. It was the only thing he had to remind him of the days when Gabriella wasn't wearing short skirts and Chad was...well, Chad was alive.

He looked up at the treehouse with a pounding heart. The entire roof had seem to have collapsed! He blanched, feeling dizzy. Fucking weather! It had to victimize his poor, defenseless treehouse! What an asshole! He could still remember pricking his finger to draw blood, still remembered the soft feel of Gabriella's lips and the awkward peck they had shared. Still remember his mom calling him down and bringing him cookies back when everything was_ right_.

Who hated him this much?

With that he bounded against the pavement and rushed across the grass to the tree, climbing the makeshift latter in quick strides. Oh god, oh god, it was totaled. His life was over.

_O-V-E-R. _

Slipping through the hole that led him into the treehouse, Troy pulled himself up with his arms and glanced around the small space. There were sharp pieces of wood and leaves everywhere, branches sticking out over here and shingles over there. He felt his heart drop. His place was ruined, his childhood flying out the fucking window.

Then he heard a whimper and he instantly stiffened. What _was_ that? Was it an animal? Was there a dead squirrel in his treehouse? Or a bird? Or something? Oh god, please don't be a dead animal. Then he'd have to touch it or call animal control and if he didn't Gabriella would bitch at him for animal cruelty and he really, really didn't need that. Turning around slowly, as if afraid of what he would find, his eyes settled on the source of the noise.

He suddenly really wished it were a squirrel.

Laying on her side was a girl. Not just any kind of girl, but a naked girl. She was tall with long, thin legs and thighs, her stomach so flat that her ribs and hip bones poked through her saran-wrap skin. Her breasts were small and round and her neck was long, leading up to a gorgeous face, her eyes fluttered closed and her eyebrows and mouth contorted in pain. Her hair was blonde and long, shimmering down her shoulders and over her collarbone. Troy coughed and staggered backwards.

What in the hell? Why was there a girl in his treehouse? Wait, why was there a _naked_ girl in his treehouse? Oh what in the hell, was he high? Was he dreaming? He pinched his skin so hard he cracked through the skin and yelped. Nope, he was awake. But things like this _only_ happened in his dreams, not in the real world. Oh, this was too weird.

The girl gave out another whimper and shuddered as she turned over so she was lying on her stomach. The sight of her backside made Troy gasp out loud.

It wasn't because of the dimples on her lower back, or the perfect proportions of her ass. It wasn't because her skin glimmered and looked like butter. It was because resting between her shoulder blades were two massive _wings_. Wings, the things meant for birds; long, white and feathered. They looked magnificent, intricate and soft and when she shifted slightly, they twitched and rose fluttered slightly.

There was a winged woman in his treehouse. Troy felt like he was going to throw up.

"Holy _fuck_," he said quietly before passing out a moment later.

---

Hello everyone! This my friends, is actually a story idea I've had for years and am so excited that I am finally executing! It's actually my first time ever writing high school age T&G, so this should be interesting. It's going to be ridiculous amounts of fun and after Stroke, I really, really need that.

Speaking of which, I will post the epilogue sometime this week. I've got three different endings in my head and can't decide on one. I am sorry!

As with Mamihlapinatapei, I am doing the soundtrack thing, so head on over to my livejournal to pick up this chapter's track! :)

Thanks for reading!


	2. Waffles

---

**The Cherubs**

Chapter Two: _Waffles_

---

Gabriella Montez was far from perfect, and most days, she loved this. She loved being imperfect, she loved being full of flaws and problems and things that made her unique. She loved that one eye was just the slightest bit bigger than the other, adored the way the bones in her knees prodded out unattractively. She loved that she was good at everything in school but history. She loved that her hair was so dark it was the colour of midnight, instead of the stereotypical blonde that was considered beautiful.

Somedays, however, she hated it. She hated that she had spent her life growing up around boys and was now, unfortunately, considered one. She hated that her breasts were small, only but a handful, and that her eyes were a boring shade of brown. She hated the scar on her right wrist from where her bone had snapped and punctured the skin and the long one down her back from where the metal of Troy's truck had scraped.

She hated that the only person in the entire world who could ever understand those scars, the only one who could ever even begin to find them beautiful, was the same person who _knew_ her best, yet didn't _see_ her at all.

Pulling herself out of bed that Saturday morning, her head felt foggy and she groaned, realizing her phone was still pressed to her cheek. Glancing at it, she saw Troy had hung up and sighed. He never would wait longer than necessary.

It was times like these that she could feel how foolish she was being. The boy had spent all night on the phone with her, conversing and trying to get her to stop crying. Promised he'd be over in the morning to help board up the windows she thought had broken in the kitchen during the storm. He _sang_ with her for goodness sake, it should have been enough.

No, it should have been more than enough, yet to her, it wasn't. She wanted more and as the days went by and Troy completely misread her actions, the more often she realized she was probably never going to get it.

She had tried, though, she had tried almost desperately. She had dressed up in cute outfits and she had dropped hints, but everything went right over his head. Or maybe they didn't and he just didn't like her that way, but didn't want to deal with it.

As she walked down the hall to the kitchen, she sighed, realizing that everyone thought women were so complicated, when in reality men were so much more confusing. At least girls said what they were feeling!

She entered her kitchen and sighed when she noticed that two windows had indeed broken. Gathering the broom, she went to work at cleaning the shards of glass. Maybe it wasn't Troy's fault he was so clueless, maybe she really did need to spell it out for him. Sweeping up the glass into the dust pan, she smiled to herself. In about an hour, she would call Troy and he would come over. She'd bully him into making them waffles and they'd eat while watching cartoons in the living room. Then he'd board up the window, just like he said he would and then maybe then, maybe she'd tell him.

Maybe she'd tell him she was in love with him.

On the kitchen counter, the familiar buzz of her cell phone sounded, interrupting her thoughts. Recognizing Troy's ringtone, she skipped happily to answer it.

"Good morning!" she said brightly. "You coming over soon? I've already swept up all the glass and I checked, I have all the ingredients for waffles."

"Gabriella, you need to come over," Troy said in a hushed voice.

"What?" she asked, frowning, "you said you were going to come over here and fix my window! You promised, Troy!"

"I know," he said on the other line, his voice muffled. "But I _need_ you here now."

She paused, noticing the hint of panic in his voice. "Troy is everything okay?"

"No, it's not," he responded bluntly, "please come over now."

"I'll be right there." With that, Gabriella raced to her room and threw on her clothes hastily, before locking her door and running the three blocks to the Bolton home.

Seven minutes later and standing at the front door, Gabriella tapped her foot impatiently. What the heck could possibly be so important that Troy had begged her to come over to his house? He had promised over the phone last night that he'd come to fix her window and now he was bailing? She folded her arms and huffed angrily. Oh, it was so typical Troy.

Yet he had sounded so terribly panicked and he said things weren't okay. Maybe she should be more concerned. Maybe something really bad had happened. Maybe something to his parents or...something bad must have happened. Something big.

Waiting for him to answer, she turned and glanced over her shoulder at the white truck that was sitting in the driveway and flinched, the sounds of scraping metal running through her mind. She shuddered violently and whirled around, pounding on Troy's door again.

It suddenly flew open and a flushed, red cheeked Troy stood before her. His eyes looked wild and frenzied and he let out a sigh of relief when he saw her there.

"Gabriella!" he said, his voice at least three octaves higher than normal. "You're here, thank god, I—" he paused, taking in her very short red Wildcat gym shorts and matching hoodie she had thrown on. "What are you wearing?"

Rolling her eyes, Gabriella groaned. "Please, not this again!" she said, brushing past him into the house. "I threw on the first thing I could find since you called in a panic."

He glanced her up and down, his cheeks growing brighter. "You didn't have to wear underwear!"

"It's hardly underwear!" she yelped, "They're the standard gym uniform for freshmen!"

"Yes, exactly!" Troy waved his hands around, "for freshmen! Pretty sure you're a senior! My god, Gabriella, your legs!"

"Yes, my legs," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "You've seen them before so stop making a big deal out of it! Why do you care what I dress like anyways?"

"Because!" Troy snapped, his mind completely off of what was waiting in his bedroom. "Do you know how many pervs and guys are going to be looking at you now?"

"Why do you care?" she all but yelled, "why does it matter if other guys look at me?"

Troy shook his head wildly. "Look, just forget it, we'll talk about this later! There is something really, really important that you have to see right now and you have to promise you won't get mad or freaked out and leave, okay?"

Gabriella narrowed her eyes. The last time he had said something like that was when they were twelve and he had taken care of her goldfish while she was away at science camp. She had returned home to find it belly up in the fishbowl. These words meant that something bad was certainly about to happen.

Still, Troy seemed desperately concerned and almost a little scared, so she nodded, biting her lip and allowed him to drag her down the hall, his hand clamped in hers. She flushed hotly.

"Troy, what is it?" she asked as he dragged her down the hall. "What's the big deal?" 

"You'll see!" he said, his voice raising in pitch even more. He turned down the hall and pulled her into his room, pointing at the bed.

"See!"

Gabriella looked at the bed and her eyes grew in size. She followed two long, tan exposed legs that led up to the hem of Troy's red Wildcat hoodie. Drowning in the material, it slipped over the shoulder's of a blonde haired girl, exposing her collarbone and the slope of her breast. Her eyes were closed, her head lolled to the side as she slept, but her beauty was apparent even while she rested. Her cheekbones were high and defined, her lashes fanned out onto her cheeks and her mouth was shaped like a small, pink bow. She was beautiful.

And she was in Troy's bed. Wearing his clothes. What. The. Fuck?

Gabriella yanked her hand out of his grasp, suddenly fuming. Clenching her fists by her sides, she tried to muster up the strength not to hit him. She decided on yelling instead.

"What the hell is this, Troy?" she snapped, his face surprised at her outburst.

"What's what?" he asked gruffly, not understanding the situation. Why was she getting mad at him? Shouldn't she be freaking out?

Gabriella rolled her eyes, folding her arms over her chest. Oh god, there was a girl in his bed. One who was obviously very naked underneath nothing but his hoodie. His _Wildcat _hoodie, the very one she had worn the day before. Feeling the tears well up in her eyes, she bit her lip and willed them to go away.

She had always known that one day Troy would fall in love and she was going to have to deal with it, but she never imagined that he'd shove it down her throat. She never imagined that she'd never even get a chance to tell him how she felt. What was his deal? Why had he asked her to come?

"That girl!" she said hotly, tears still flooding her vision. "So you bed some blonde bunny and then expect me to what, congratulate you? How did she even get here, was she here all night? Was this why you didn't come over, because she was here, sleeping or something?"

"Brie—"

"No!" Gabriella brushed her hand under her eye quickly, catching the tear that escaped. "What were thinking, bringing me here so you could brag over your sexual conquests! This is a new low even for you! Even Chad wouldn't have been impressed!"

"Gabriella!" Troy snapped, grabbing her wrist and dragging her over to the side of his bed. She kicked and squirmed in his grasp, trying to pull herself free. Cautiously, as if he were afraid of her, he pushed the girl over so she was laying on her side. Gabriella gasped.

Two long slits had been cut into his hoodie and from them sprouted two long, feathered wings. Gabriella blinked, clutching onto Troy's shoulder for dear life.

"Is that...is she...does she have wings?" she choked out, glancing up at him. His complexion was pale and he nodded slowly.

"That she does," he muttered, frowning and looking back at the creature on his bed.

Suddenly, the room began to spin and Gabriella felt her knees turn to jelly. Next thing she knew, she passed out.

Troy sighed as she went limp in his arms, buckling under her weight. Groaning, he lifted her up and settled her down next to the...the thing on his bed. Standing back, he stared at his bed.

This was probably the first and only time he'd ever be able to say he had two girls in his bed willingly.

---

Troy had learned three valuable lessons growing up, lessons that he would carry with him for years to come. Number one was that if an iron was plugged in and it was on, chances were it would be hot and it would scald his hand. Number two was that not everything was edible; three emergency trips to the hospital by age seven taught him this well.

And number three, the most important of all, was that if there was trouble, if something happened that he could not explain, he called Gabriella.

When he busted his computer, he called Gabriella. When he couldn't figure out how to do laundry, he called Gabriella. He needed help with homework? He called Gabriella. He accidentally ordered too much Chinese food and was all alone? He called Gabriella.

There was a short period of time when he couldn't call Gabriella. When the worst thing that had ever happened to either of them in their entire lives had happened to both of them at the same time. When they were both bloody and unconscious and Chad was dead. All he had wanted was someone to lean on, but he was afraid that she wasn't going to want to be there to lean on him that time. That she would have been angry that he was driving, that he had essentially caused Chad's death.

Of course this hadn't been the case and they had had a screaming match to end all screaming matches, resulting in tears that Troy would later deny. But this was another story for another day, and quite frankly, right then and there, he hadn't wanted to relive it.

So when he awoke in his treehouse to still find the naked girl laying across from him, his first thought that was he needed to call Gabriella. When he hoisted her up in his arms and nearly dropped her while descending down the makeshift ladder, he thought that he needed to call Gabriella. When he placed her on his bed and cut holes into his prized Wildcat hoodie, he knew he needed to call Gabriella. When he decided that this was indeed an angel, he went and called Gabriella.

Which was turning out to be a smart decision, despite her passing out and everything. And assuming he had slept with the angel, but whatever, Gabriella was such a _girl _sometimes.

As soon as Gabriella came to, after she fully registered that this was indeed not a dream, she began hyperventilating. After that had passed and Troy had finally calmed her down, she began asking questions.

"How did she get here?" was the first as the two stood before the bed, looking down at the...at the angel sprawled on Troy's sheets. Beside her, he shrugged.

"I have no clue," he responded, rubbing the back of his neck. "I went to go see the damage in the treehouse—"

"Wait," Gabriella interrupted, "something happened to the treehouse?"

Troy nodded glumly. "It's practically destroyed. The roof fell in."

"Oh," Gabriella said, sadness creeping over her features. She had loved the treehouse just as much as he had. "Did she fall through the roof?"

"I don't know," he said simply, "that's a good guess, though. I have no idea where she came from or what she's doing here. But she's an angel, there's no other explanation for what she is. Is there?"

"Not that I know of," Gabriella said diplomatically, walking over to the other side of the room and booting up his computer. "But we might as well find out."

Troy furrowed his brows. "Wait, how is that going to help us?"

"Simple," she responded with a cheeky grin. "Google."

Her fingers flying over the keys, Gabriella punched the single word into the search engine. She rolled her eyes and groaned when she saw the results pop up.

"Oh for the love of...the first one is for the LA Angels," she said, aggravated, "like that's going to help us." She scrolled down the page. "There's one for Wikipedia, then some Youtube links, images, more baseball and...oh!" she pointed to the screen with her fingernail, "what about this one? It's the Catholic Encyclopedia."

Troy scrunched up his nose. "But I'm not Catholic."

"Well, I am," Gabriella said, rolling her eyes, "and the Bible says an awful lot about angels."

Troy pondered this for a moment, drumming his fingers over Gabriella's exposed knee absentmindedly. If it was bothering her, she didn't say anything, he continued with the comfortable, natural action. "But what if the angel isn't Catholic?"

Gabriella narrowed her eyes then, gripping the mouse. "What?"

"Like, what if she's Jewish?" he asked diplomatically, "or Protestant. I don't think it's a good idea to discount all of these different religions just yet. We don't know that she's a Catholic angel. What if she's not religious at all?"

Annoyed, Gabriella batted Troy's hand away and he frowned. "Wikipedia it is," she mumbled, clicking on the first link she had suggested.

The page loaded in front of them and Gabriella read aloud. "Angels are usually viewed as messengers of a divine being, sent to do the tasks of that being. Traditions vary as to whether angels have free will. While the appearance of angels also varies, many views of angels give them a human shape," she paused, glancing over at the bed, running her eyes over the angel's long legs. "Well, she's got that for sure. We can check that off the potential angel list."

Troy scooted closer to her, resting his chin on her shoulder as he picked up where she left off. "Despite a common popular belief — or at least metaphor — that angels are former humans, most major religious organizations deny such a view and this position is held only by the blah blah blah," he turned to smirk against Gabriella's cheek. "Ha ha, told you it didn't all have to do with religion."

"Oh, shut up," Gabriella said, shoving him off of her. "I can't believe we're using Wikipedia as a resource for figuring out what the heck is going on here. We should be calling the police or a priest or the National Guard or something."

"Hey, hey!" Troy said, raising his hands up defensively, "_no one_ is going to believe us, no one. Not one of those people would even think of setting foot in here to investigate an angel claim. Wikipedia is all we've got and at this point, our best friend."

"Fine," Gabriella said with a sigh, looking over the table of contents. "Oh wow, it's just got a bunch of information on different religions views on angels."

"Fucking hell," Troy mumbled, leaning forward and reading the page. "Like that will help us..." he scanned the page quickly, before pointing to a link. "Try this one, contemporary research."

Clicking on the link, Gabriella skimmed the information. "It's just information about how many people believe in angels, stuff like that," she summarized, "oh, but this is kind of interesting. It says that in visual appearances, angels usually appear like the classical version. So, essentially, the one on your bed."

The pair glanced at each other before turning around slowly to glance at the angel.

"This is really weird," Troy mumbled and Gabriella nodded beside him.

"Yeah, no kidding," she replied, sighing heavily. "I somehow don't think the answer to all of this is going to be on google."

"Yeah, me neither." Suddenly, the angel began to shift on the bed, her eyelids fluttering. "Shit, Brie, I think she's waking up."

He stood up quickly, Gabriella following suit. The angel's eyes popped open, a shimmering brown colour and she looked around the room slowly.

Then, she began to scream.

Actually, scream was the exact wrong word for it, Troy thought to himself as Gabriella grabbed his arm so hard that she dug her nails into his skin. It was more of a shriek, more of a wail, more of a loud piercing cry. She writhed and crashed on the bed, tears pouring down her face.

"What's happening?" Gabriella asked and Troy shook his head, pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her protectively.

"I don't know!" he clutched her closer, "Do you think she's hurt?"

"Maybe she's just scared!" Gabriella supplied, "why is she crying? What do we do?"

"I don't know!" Troy bit his lip, turning to the computer, "go Google it!!"

"Are you mental?" Gabriella yelled, darting out of his grasp, "what do you want me to do, google, 'what do do when there's a screaming angel in your presence?"

"Well, it couldn't hurt to try!"

"Oh you're such an idiot!" Gabriella looked around the room frantically. "Wait! I have an idea!"

"What is it? What is it?!"

"Get on your knees!" Gabriella yelped, grabbing his arm and yanking him to the ground. His shin smacked painfully on the floor and he winced as the angel's cries grew louder.

"What the fuck are you doing, Gabriella?" he hissed, panic running through his veins. Oh god, this was the apocalypse, the day of reckoning! They were totally going to die.

"Fold your hands in prayer!" she all but screamed, smashing her palms together and closing her eyes. Gabriella bent her head and began to pray loudly.

"Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name!" she said quickly and Troy looked at her apprehensively. The angel stopped, listening to the words, and then began to cry more profusely.

"It's not working!" Troy said anxiously. "Gabriella, it's not working!"

Gabriella tried to get a breath, her chest heaving. "Um, I, okay, uh," she shook her hands in the air, trying to think of what to do. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus!"

"Gabriella!" Troy shouted over the crying, "what are you doing? Praying isn't working!"

"I don't know!" Gabriella said, tears filling her own eyes, "maybe she's a feminist!"

Troy gaped at her. "What kind of logic is that?"

"I don't know!" she repeated, clutching at her hair. "Okay, um, maybe we sing. Choir songs!" Swinging her hips and waving her hands over her head, Gabriella launched into song.

"Dance, dance wherever you may be!" she sang loudly, "I am the Lord of the dance said he! And I'll lead you all wherever you may be and I'll lead you all in the dance said he!"

"Don't sing that!" Troy spat, moving towards the angel who had stopped trashing on the bed and was now crying hysterically. "She might not be Catholic!"

"Shut up!" Gabriella screamed, "it's the only thing I can thing of! And you just don't like it because it gets stuck in your head! I danced in the morning when the was begun! I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun!"

"Well, yeah, that, too!" he said as Gabriella continued, "seriously, stop, we have to think of something else! Come here!"

"How did you bring her in when you found her this morning?" she asked as they advanced towards the angel. "Was she freaking out like this?"

Troy shook his head. "No! She's been unconscious the entire time!"

"Wait," Gabriella froze, furrowing her brows, "so you changed her, obviously copped a feel and she did nothing?"

His jaw fell open at her accusation. "Hey, I did not cop a feel! Do you want me to go to hell?"

"I thought you said she probably wasn't Catholic! You're not even Catholic!" Gabriella said, exasperated, rubbing her temples as the angel's wailing persisted. "What does it matter?"

"You can never be too careful! Oh, why the fuck are we fighting about this?!" Troy yelled, "we have a Goddamn angel freaking out here and—" he stopped, seeing Gabriella's scandalized face. "What?!"

"Don't use his name in vain, you're going to go to hell!" she said quickly, waving her hands around frantically. "Oh, god, what do we do, what do we do?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!" Troy said running a hand through his hair. "We have to calm her down! Somehow."

Biting on her nail, Gabriella slid on the bed beside the angel. Troy's eyes widened as she extended her hand to graze over the angel's wrist.

"What are you doing?" he hissed, "don't touch her!"

"You carried her in here, you didn't die!" Gabriella said, firmly placing her other hand on the angel's other wrist. Slowly, the angel turned her head to look at Gabriella, the tears still running down her cheeks. Gabriella smiled nervously.

Troy mentally said goodbye to his best friend. She was screwed now. The only reason he hadn't been sent into the fiery pits of hell just yet was because the angel hadn't been aware of his touching her. But Gabriella was touching her and she was completely aware. Wasn't there a rule against this? Wasn't this like the ultimate sin? Oh god, he thought, biting his lip, she's going to get struck down by lightning.

But instead, the very opposite happened. Gabriella grasped both of the angel's hands in her own and pulled them towards her slowly, trying not to scare her off.

"Hi," she said softly, gently. "I'm Gabriella."

Suddenly, the angel stopped crying. It was like she shut off, like a switch had been flicked. Troy gazed over at them, completely stunned. With just one touch from Gabriella, the angel's frame relaxed and her tears stopped flowing. It was remarkable.

The angel nodded and made a soft whimpering sound as she squeezed Gabriella's fingers. Dropping one of her hands, Gabriella reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind the angel's ear.

"It's okay," she said sweetly, "I know you're scared and alone, but we're going to take care of you. We're going to help you, I promise. Me and my friend, Troy." She gestured for him to come over, and he did so, falling over his feet. "This is Troy. He's the one who found you in his treehouse this morning.

He waved awkwardly, feeling completely and totally weirded out. The angel sat up straighter, her wings twitching behind her. She looked at Troy with her big, expressive brown eyes. He smiled.

"Hi," he said hesitantly, "I'm Troy. Welcome, to, uh, my house."

The angel squirmed on the duvet, still clutching one of Gabriella's hands. Troy watched as his best friend took a deep breath before opening to speak.

"Do you have a name?" she asked the blonde, who nodded excitedly. "What is it?"

The angel opened her mouth and a garble of high pitched sounds came out. Clamping his hands over his ears, Troy winced in pain and the angel stopped talking, a frown spreading across her lips.

"That's a beautiful name!" Gabriella said joyously, "Absolutely wonderful! But it's hard to say, don't you think, Troy?"

"Yeah, that's an understatement," he mumbled. "Do you speak English?" he asked the angel, who cocked an eyebrow in response.

"Troy, she obviously doesn't speak English," Gabriella snapped. "But she does need a name, do you mind if we give you a name?" she asked, turning to face the angel.

She shook her head, at which Gabriella smiled. "Okay then! Troy, what do you want to name her?"

Feeling two sets of eyes looking at him impatiently, expectantly, Troy felt the pressure build. What to name her, what to name her, what to name her? Why did he have to be stuck with the ultimate decision of naming an angel? Wasn't this a completely absurd kind of thing? Glancing around the room, he tried to think of a name, try to find something that would inspire me. He stopped, looking over one of the posters on his wall.

"Uh, Vanessa!" he said quickly, "what about Vanessa?"

Gabriella scrunched her eyebrows. "No, we are not naming her after one of the actresses on your wall, Troy!"

He scanned the offending wall further. "What about Megan?"

"Troy!" Gabriella said, annoyed, "I said no actresses!"

"Oh come on!" he moaned, "she's hardly an actress!" Catching Gabriella's annoyed look, he shut up and continued surveying the room. His eyes fell on a stuffed animal from his childhood laying by his door and a grin spread across his face.

"Sharpay!" he said excitedly, "we'll name her Sharpay!"

The angel clapped her hands in delight, obviously liking the name and the grin on his face grew broader. Gabriella, however, was not amused.

"Troy," she began slowly, "did you just name an _angel_ after a_ dog_? A dog that is known for it's wrinkly skin?"

"Hey!" Troy said, insulted, "they are known as one of the rarest breeds of dog around! Don't be dissing up the shar pei! Besides, I don't know if you've noticed, but we're sitting on my bed with an _angel_. She has _wings_. Stranger things have obviously happened than naming someone after a dog."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, before turning to the angel. "Do you like it?" she asked, and the angel nodded. "Okay, then, Sharpay it is," she said with a half hearted smile. "At least you didn't suggest Ashley."

"Uh," Troy glanced at the poster of a blonde woman on his wall, "that was my next one."

Sighing, Gabriella pressed a hand to her forehead, before hearing a low rumble. An awfully familiar rumble. She looked at Sharpay, who was pressing a hand to her stomach, frowning slightly.

"Hey, Troy," she said, shifting on the bed, "I think she's hungry."

"Hungry?" Troy exclaimed, "she eats?"

"I don't know," Gabriella said, tapping Sharpay on the shoulder. "Do you, are you, um, hungry?" A blank stare was all she got in return, so Gabriella lifted her hand, miming bringing a spoon to her mouth and chewing. Rubbing her stomach, she continued. "Mmm, food! Hungry?"

Sharpay nodded quickly, excitedly and Gabriella turned to Troy with a smile. "Looks like she is, as weird as that sounds! Feel like whipping us up some breakfast?"

"Uh," Troy considered what was happening for a moment before nodding. "Sure."

"Okay!" Gabriella stood up. "Let's go eat!" She held out her hand for Sharpay to take, but instead of reaching for it, the blonde spread her wings and began to hover in the air, the tops of her wings grazing the ceiling. Gabriella blanched and wobbled on her feet.

In a heartbeat, Troy had grabbed her before she hit the ground. "She's flying..." Gabriella mumbled, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as Troy tried to wake her up.

"Brie, please, snap out of it!" he prodded, tapping her cheek, "I seriously can't deal with her without you! Snap out of it!" Above him, Sharpay flew over head to the door, looking over her shoulder expectantly.

"Oh, holy shit, she really is flying," he muttered before feeling his own knees give out. He collapsed in a heap, falling beside Gabriella. By the door, Sharpay lowered back down to the ground.

So apparently flying wasn't considered an appropriate mode of transportation here.

---

Later, after an awkward moment in which Troy had returned to a conscious state with his head buried in Gabriella's breasts, the three were seated around the breakfast bar in the kitchen, a large serving of waffles with maple syrup on them. Sharpay had at first, been completely confused as what to do, but Troy and Gabriella demonstrated as best as they could and now she was shoveling waffle after waffle into her mouth, smiling all the while despite the mess she was making.

Troy and Gabriella watched her curiously, eating their own waffles. They had debated teaching her how to use cutlery but decided against it. The fact was, they were sitting eating breakfast with an angel, something that according to the almighty Wikipedia, was a messenger of God. This was tricky, to say the least, and the way they were able to act as if this was generally not a big deal was astounding them.

"Do you think the storm had anything to do with her?" Gabriella asked quietly, her eyes still fixated on Sharpay.

Troy shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. It was an awfully weird storm."

"It would make sense," Gabriella offered, "I mean, the fact that none of it makes sense all kind of goes together, don't you think?"

"I guess so," Troy leaned back on the stool he was seated on. "So what now?" 

It was Gabriella's turn to shrug. "I don't really know. We have to take care of her, I promised her we would and that was the only thing that calmed her, so we can't back out."

Troy groaned. "I can't believe you did that. Now I'm stuck with her."

"Well what were you going to do?" she asked, biting into her waffle, "I mean, you wouldn't have thrown her on the street, would you?"

Troy shifted uncomfortably. "Well, no. But still, this is hard!"

Gabriella laughed. "No kidding. Don't worry, I'll help you, though! I have to work today, but I'll come over tomorrow with some clothing and other things for her."

Troy cocked his head to the side. "Clothing? She can just wear mine."

"Trust me, Troy," she said, "she may be an angel, but it will do no good to have something looking like that walking around wearing your clothes. Especially if your parents come home."

Stiffening, he leaned over and stared down at his food. "My parents aren't due home for at least two weeks."

"Yeah, but what if they return home unexpec—"

"Gabriella," Troy said firmly, meeting her eyes. "They're not coming home anytime soon."

Averting her eyes, Gabriella tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, knowing all too well the loneliness that came from absent parents. Shaking it off, she continued going down the mental checklist she had made. "Okay, well, I'll bring some books, too. We need to figure out where she came from and how to get her back. Surely someone in history has thought of something."

Troy smiled at her, ever the optimist. "Surely, cause this happens everyday, you know."

Gabriella stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh shut it."

Troy then did a double take, glancing at Gabriella's face and pointing to his cheek. "You have syrup on the side of your mouth."

"Oh!" Gabriella all but squeaked, suddenly feeling very small and very girlish. Her cheeks grew hot as she rubbed at her cheek. "Is it gone?"

"No, here," Troy said, pointing to his cheek more firmly. "It's right on the corner of your mouth."

She rubbed again. "Here?"

Sighing, aggravated, Troy shifted forward. "You keep missing it, I don't understand how you keep missing it, it is right on the corner of your mouth, right here!"

"Here?" she asked again, her face hot and red. Troy laughed suddenly and hopped off his stool, coming to stand in front of her. Swiftly, he ran the pad of his thumb right over the very spot he kept gesturing to, his skin skimming over her bottom lip as he pulled away. Gabriella froze.

"Right there," he said with a smile and sat back down, turning to his waffles. "That was pathetic, Brie, really. One for the ages."

Blinking rapidly, Gabriella tried to come up with a response but her lip was tingling, the feel of his thumb still present on her nerves. Bringing a hand up to her mouth, she pressed her fingers there.

Troy, however, didn't notice. He instead watched Sharpay across the counter, her wings battering open and close, fluttering slightly as she squirmed with delight, drowning her waffles in syrup. He was fascinated by her.

"God, she's something, isn't he?" he asked and Gabriella snapped out of her reverie, feeling very ridiculous indeed. She looked over at the angel and smiled.

"Yes," she said, watching as Sharpay swirled her fork in the sticky liquid. "She is."

Troy let out a sigh, one that was very unlike him and Gabriella stiffened. It almost sounded like a swoon. "She's gorgeous, too," he mumbled and Gabriella looked away then as a soft red hue spread over his cheeks as he watched the blonde.

"Yes," she retorted quietly, "she is."

Mentally, she tried to think of the amount of times Troy had used gorgeous as an adjective to describe a girl. She tried even harder to think of when he had used it to describe her.

She slumped in her seat when she couldn't think of one. Of course he was going to use such a complimentary adjective to describe an angel. Angels were perfect.

And as Gabriella knew very well, she herself defined imperfect.

---

This is far too much fun to write. Head on over to my LJ to pick up this chapter's track!


	3. Twilight

---

**The Cherubs**

Chapter Three: _Twilight_

---

When they were children, Troy and Gabriella would swear up and down that they shared the same brain, or at least the same feelings. They tended to complete each others sentences, would say the same thing at the same time and usually had the same opinion about pretty much everything.

They shared the same interests and mostly had the same reactions to things they liked and hated. They'd share jokes only the other would find funny and liked all of the same foods.

But to the surprise and utter fascination of their parents, it ran a little deeper than that. From the age of three, Troy could tell if something was wrong with Gabriella just by looking at her. If she opened her mouth, he would know what was upsetting her just by the tone of voice. On many incidences did Gabriella look at Troy and voice his thoughts a moment later. When they had a sleepover, if one of them couldn't sleep, the other couldn't either. If one of them was upset, the other was.

When Gabriella's father died from a sudden heart attack when they were only four years old, Troy woke up in the middle of the night, crying for seemingly no reason. His parents were utterly baffled; nothing they attempted soothed or lulled him back into sleep.

Weary and exhausted after spending the rest of the night trying to get him to stop, Lucille Bolton was shocked and thrown for a loop when the phone rang hours later and Maria Montez told them that her husband had passed away suddenly at four that morning.

They called their bond supernatural. They called their bond amazing. But for the most part, they didn't know exactly what to call it. It drove Chad crazy, to the point where he said he was forever feeling like a third wheel, forever stuck trying to place the puzzle pieces together and the gaps in the conversations. However, he enjoyed teasing them about it and grew to ignore it.

As they grew older, however, the bond seemed to lessen bit by bit. It started when they were thirteen and Troy had his first girlfriend, a young, motherly type named Patricia. She had red-hair and was sweet, friendly and demure. When he told this news to Gabriella, for the first time ever, he couldn't gauge her reaction. From the expression on her face, he couldn't figure out what she was feeling and when she spoke, it was as clear as mud to him what she thought.

By the time they were seventeen, and after Chad's death, Troy was left wondering what the hell Gabriella was thinking nearly all the time. He could never figure out what was going on in her head and he was always puzzled as to what she felt. He hated it and it was with growing frustration that he tried to get his own point across and she just wouldn't _get_ it.

Like today for insistence. Today, she wasn't making any sense.

Gabriella had arrived that Sunday morning bright and early with two bags filled with old clothing for Sharpay and a backpack full of other miscellaneous items. She walked into his bedroom and dumped the contents on his bed. Troy frowned.

"Why did you bring nail polish and all of this other junk with you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you were bringing books! Not," he picked up a particularly offensive looking tube, "deep pore cleansing facial masks!"

Snatching the item out of his hand, Gabriella rolled her eyes. "I was thinking about it all night. We need to go straight to the source. So while Sharpay and I have a girls day in, you will be go to the location church and talking to the priest there."

Troy watched as Gabriella handed Sharpay the bags of clothing and the angel eagerly dug in, searching through the garments excitedly. She wanted him to what? Go to a church? But he wasn't even Catholic, wasn't this...like, _illega_l in religion or something? Besides, hadn't they agreed that they didn't know if the angel was religious or not?

"You want me to _what_?" he asked, suddenly feeling very tired. "I'm not Catholic, you go!"

Gabriella shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. Troy gulped, her stance showing she meant business. "No, Troy, you go. You're the one who found her, you're the one who can explain it to the priest better."

"But she might not even be Catholic!" he proclaimed, trying to get out of this. He really, really didn't feel like going to a church first thing Sunday morning.

"Troy," Gabriella said, and he was surprised by how tired she sounded, "just go, please. I'm sure he'll be able to help to some degree, okay?"

He was silent for a moment, but nodded, feeling defeated. Maybe, maybe it would help. Angels were supposed to be holy creatures, after all.

Besides, as usual, he couldn't decipher what Gabriella was trying to say, what she was trying to get at and he felt it was easier to just let it go and do as she asked then try and figure out the inner workings of her brain. He glanced up at the scene before him and let out a laugh.

"Looks like she doesn't like your clothes," Troy said with a smirk, watching as a disgruntled Sharpay rifled through the bag. She threw garments this way and that, wrinkling her nose and folding her arms. She let out something that sounded similar to a gag when she pulled out a navy blue floral dress. Gabriella glared at him.

"Go! Now!" she said, walking him towards his bedroom door. "If you leave now, chances are you'll catch the priest right after mass finishes! Go, go, go!"

"Alright, alright!" He said, scooping up his car keys as he made his way out of his bedroom. "Don't spill anything on my carpets!"

As he left, Gabriella let out a heavy breath and turned around, stopping as she felt something collide with her face. She looked down at the ground and found one of her old dresses sitting at her feet. Glancing over at Sharpay, she saw the angel had her arms folded and was looking more than discontent.

"Do you seriously not like my clothes?" she asked, gaping slightly, her jaw dropping further when Sharpay folded her arms and stuck her nose in the air. Through gritted teeth, Gabriella spoke.

"Hey!" she said, annoyed, "you're wearing a man's oversized shirt!" she spat, "and I know for a fact he sucks at laundry, so much so, that sometimes I do it for him! Beggars can't be choosers!"

Sharpay's eyes widened in size and she reached further into the bag, trying to find something she deemed acceptable. From it she pulled out a pair of hot pink lace leggings Gabriella had worn for a Halloween costume and a long, grey sweater. She smiled, looking pleased with her selections. Gabriella smiled back, glad that she was pleased before taking the garments from her and grabbing a pair of scissors to cut holes in the back for Sharpay's wings.

"I know it's not the latest trends," she said apologetically, "but it's better than what you're wearing, right?" She looked at Sharpay who was searching through the pile of things Gabriella had dumped on the bed.

Sharpay paused as she pulled out a slim, DVD case. She held it up with the tips of her fingers and tilted her head to the size, staring at the faces on the cover.

Smiling, Gabriella sat down on the bed beside her. "He's pretty, isn't he?" she asked, pointing to the male face. Sharpay nodded slowly, her eyes growing wider as she brought the case closer to her eyes to inspect it.

"Do you maybe want to watch it?" Gabriella asked carefully, "we could do some girly things. Some fun things. It will just be a fun afternoon for the two of us, while Troy goes out and does all of the hard work."

The idea of hanging out and just being girls thrilled Gabriella, even if it was with an angel that she was going to partake in such activities with. Troy had only ever allowed her to paint his toenails once and that had been when they were both drunk. Since then she hadn't done it again and she had yet to coax him into painting hers.

Sharpay set down the DVD case before looking at a bottle of bright pink, shimmery nail polish. Then she looked up at Gabriella and nodded her head eagerly. Gabriella grinned.

"You think he looks good on the cover?" she asked, "wait till you hear him talk! His voice is like _velvet_!"

---

Stepping into the church, Troy glanced around, feeling rather uncomfortable and out of place. The church was bright inside, with soft pink walls and green and gold crown moulding. The ceilings where impossibly high and the stained glass windows in an array of colours cast rainbow shadows on the floor. The pews were made out of oak and he walked alongside them, counting the hymn books to himself. He had been here once or twice before, when he was younger, but it would never stop feeling foreign to him, the smell never would be comforting.

When he arrived at the front of the church, he looked from side to side, trying to figure out where he was supposed to go. Did you just summon a priest and he appeared? Did you have to book an appointment like the dentist? Gabriella had been correct, mass was already over, the congregation cleared, but it appeared that no people were left behind. He stood at the altar awkwardly, his mind wandering.

He suddenly remembered a time when he and Gabriella had stood at this very spot as children. He had accompanied her family to Sunday mass for kicks and was ridiculously bored. By the end of it, though, Gabriella had grabbed his hand and dragged him up to the altar and faced him, grinning brightly.

"_One day_!" she proclaimed, "_you and I will stand here when we get married_!" They had been five at the time and the thought of marrying Gabriella had made perfect sense to him. They knew nothing else, no one else but each other. Of _course_ they would marry. Now he just laughed at the memory and how childish they had been.

He heard someone clear his throat and his head shot up, seeing a priest standing there. He smiled politely.

"Good afternoon, my child," the priest said, extending his hand. "How are you?"

Troy shook his hand quickly, smiling. "Uh, good, I'm good, Mr..."

The man smiled. "Please, call me Father Benjamin."

Cocking an eyebrow, Troy looked around. "But uh, you're not my father."

Father Benjamin was still smiling and Troy was beginning to be a little creeped out. "Oh, my child, in the house of God I am. Now what can I help you with?"

Troy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. God, how he wished Gabriella had given him an instruction manual or something. Something to explain what he was supposed to do, supposed to say. He wasn't Catholic, he didn't know how these things worked!

Maybe that was a good place to start.

"Well, I'm actually not Catholic, so I don't know where to really start," he said, trailing off, hoping by some magical explanation the man could tell him exactly where to start and finish. Instead, he just smiled. How wonderful.

"That's perfectly fine, son," he said, "we deny no one. Now, take a seat in one of the pews here and we will discuss whatever's bothering you."

Sliding across the shiny wood, the two seated themselves down and Troy admittedly felt a little more at ease. Although the man didn't seem to stop smiling, he appeared to be friendly enough and maybe he really could offer some good advice and help. After all, who could possibly know more than a priest?

"So," Father Benjamin said, "what troubles you?"

"Well, you see," Troy began, "I didn't even really want to come, but my best friend Gabriella—"

Father Benjamin held up a hand. "Gabriella? A girl?"

Troy nodded. "Yeah, she's my best friend."

"Ah," Father said, smiling knowingly, "and she's giving you trouble?"

Stopping to consider it, Troy ran a hand through his hair. Gabriella was giving him trouble, but that wasn't why he was here. "Well, yeah, she doesn't make sense anymore."

Father Benjamin raised an eyebrow, leaning back in the pew. "How so?"

It was if Troy completely forgot why he was there. Instead of discussing Sharpay, he fell into something else that was bothering him, something that bothered him even more. "She's just not Gabriella anymore. I mean, she still is, but it's like...it's like she's trying too hard to impress some guy. She just dresses weird and she acts weird and I don't like it."

Smiling, Father patted him on the shoulder. "Everyone needs to go their own path, whether you agree with it or not. Why does it bother you that Gabriella is behaving differently?"

"Because I want my friend back!" he said almost sadly, "I used to be able to read her mind. Now I don't know what's going on with her. I...I kind of miss that. I miss her."

This was true. Even though he was with Gabriella everyday, mostly for extended periods of time, he missed when things with her were easy. When he didn't have to rack his brain to understand her. When Chad was around and she was carefree and laughed more. When she would spend the night for days on end, living in his clothes and forcing him to make breakfast. She rarely stayed over anymore and he missed waking up to find that she had stolen all of the blankets. He missed the simplicity they had.

Father Benjamin was silent for a moment, looking at Troy with an expression that unsettled him. He looked as if he knew something that Troy didn't. "But is that everything?" he asked, "is that what's really bothering you?"

Like an elastic, Troy suddenly snapped back to reality. "Actually, no, I can't believe we got so sidetracked, thanks for that, Father," he said, before taking a deep breath. "Okay, here's the real reason I came."

"What?" the older man said, looking confused, "I think it's important that we really divulge in your issues with your friend and the underlying—"

"An angel fell into my treehouse," Troy said quickly, the words falling out of his mouth. He felt his face grow hot at the admission. Would Father Benjamin believe him? He was a priest, he was supposed to, wasn't he? Did priests come equipped with like, a natural lie detection...thing?

Instead, the man pressed his lips together and smiled warily. "An angel fell into your treehouse?" he repeated and Troy nodded.

"Yes," he said bluntly, "after the weird storm we had Friday night. She crashed right through the ceiling, broke the entire thing. Gabriella, my best friend, named her Sharpay."

Father Benjamin folded his hands and took a deep breath. "So an angel fell through your treehouse. What happened after that?"

Troy furrowed his brows, trying to think. "Uh, I took her inside and called Gabriella. Something goes wrong and I call her, you know? Even though she's acting weird. Then Sharpay, that's the angel, she started to freak out," he took a breath before continuing, "then Gabriella calmed her down and we had breakfast. Brie came over this morning and told me to come here."

The priests eyes had grown several sizes. "So, you're telling me that an angel is currently living in your household, then?" he asked, almost skeptically.

"Uh, yeah," Troy said, rubbing the back of his neck again. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's true and I really, really need to know what to do. How to go about getting her back to...well, up there," he pointed to the ceiling, "or wherever."

Father Benjamin sighed. "That's a pretty heavy request, son."

"Yeah, I get that," Troy said simply, "but don't angels visit people all of the time."

"Well, yes," the man replied after a moment's hesitation, "angels are there to give us guidance when we need it most. But I've never...I've never heard of one actually falling into someone's treehouse."

Troy nodded. "I get that, it's crazy, but what do you suggest we do? How can we get the angel back to where she needs to be?"

Father Benjamin was quiet for a long time. Finally, he spoke, "I think that the angel will go back when her time here is finished. When she has done what she set out to do. When she gets her wings."

"But," Troy frowned, "she has those. She fell into my treehouse, I don't think she has a mission. I think she's just lost."

Clapping him on the shoulder, Father Benjamin smiled once more before standing up. "I think you should wait and see, son," he said, "but first say two rosaries and consult Revelation chapter ten verse one, and Leviticus chapter eleven, verse thirteen. Look to God, and the answer will be clear. They may help your confusion."

Sighing, Troy stood up. Great, churches gave homework? He was so right, he knew this wasn't going to work. "Okay," he said, "thanks Father."

The man smiled. "Anytime. Also, give this Gabriella a break," he said gently, "or look a little harder, a little closer at her. What you find may surprise you."

With that he was gone and Troy stared after him. What the heck was that supposed to mean?

---

Troy walked in the door feeling rather disgruntled. Wait and see? Look to God and say a rosary and the answer will be clear? How was any of this even remotely going to help him with the five four five angel in his house?

Shrugging off his shoes, he waddled into the living room where Gabriella sat on the floor with Sharpay. She was painting the angel's toes a hot pink colour and giggling to herself, rambling on about what appeared to be the most incessant conversation Troy had ever heard.

"I mean, my mom keeps saying that I should just wait for college boys, but I can't help it, you know?" she was saying as she painted Sharpay's pinkie toe. "He just gets all under my skin and he just knows me so well. It seems like a shame to just throw all of that away, don't you think?"

Sharpay nodded, her face showing a surprising amount of sympathy, as if she actually understood. She wiggled her toes gleefully and clapping her hands. Gabriella laughed and turned her attention to the television. Both of their faces were covered in a pale green cream and Troy frowned slightly, realizing they had converted his living room into a spa. The coffee-table was covered with magazines, books, movies and other girly items.

"I wish you were human," she muttered under her breath, watching the images on screen. "Then you could totally go see the sequel with me. Troy doesn't go near these films and since he's basically my only friend, I have no one else to go with. It sucks." she finished her work and tightened the lid on the nail polish bottle before setting it down.

Troy froze behind the couch. What movie? He'd go see a movie with Gabriella if she really wanted to. There was only one exception that: no movies that revolved around singing basketball jocks or sparkling vampires. Other than that he was game, especially since she sounded so bummed out about this one. He really just wanted her to be happy.

Sometimes Troy worried that maybe he held Gabriella back a little bit. That maybe she had all these opportunities and chances to be friends with other girls, other people, and simply wasn't because of obligation. Because of the inevitable bond they shared from a shitty experience in a banged up truck. It didn't bother him, being friends with only her, being friends with only a girl. She basically wasn't a girl to him—sure sometimes she dressed in a way that reminded him, and she'd give semi-decent advice when he wanted to ask someone out—but she wasn't a girl, _girl_. She was just Gabriella.

That didn't stop him from wondering if maybe she needed a girl to hang out with every once in a while.

Flopping over the back of the couch unceremoniously, Troy groaned and the girls heads snapped up. Gabriella flicked his nose from her spot on the ground next to the couch and Sharpay blinked at him owlishly, wrinkling her nose as if unimpressed by his entrance.

"Hey!" Gabriella said brightly, "how'd did go!"

"I don't know, I was told to say two rosaries and then he gave me some bible passages," Troy huffed, burying his face in the couch cushions. "Apparently, they're supposed to help. Right."

"The bible is a wealth of knowledge for these things, Troy!" Gabriella said with a frown, "after all it was the angel Gabriel who visited Mary and told her she was to give birth to Christ!"

Troy rolled his eyes. "Hi, again, totally not Catholic here. I was raised agnostic, thank you very much. I think I should add that he didn't believe me. At all."

At this Gabriella seemed surprised. "He didn't?"

"No!" Troy exclaimed, "of course he didn't! He believed that I had been visited by an angel, because all priests believe in heaven and angels, but he certainly did not believe in a flesh and blood angel falling through my treehouse."

Sharpay cocked her head to the side before fluttering over closer to the television, folding her legs and pressing her palms right to the screen as she watched with large, fascinated eyes. Gabriella, however, sighed, reaching over to the coffee-table. Beneath several bottles of nail-polish and a bowl containing some weird green concoction that Troy was almost certain went on their faces, she plucked out the bible and handed it to him.

"Well, look up the passages then. See if they help you," she suggested and he took the book from her, glancing at his palm where he had hastily scribbled them down.

Flipping through the bible, he huffed loudly. "Geez, I can't find this one, it's like...." he paused, turning more pages, "oh for the love of....he picked one right at the end!"

"What book is it in?" Gabriella asked curiously, picking up a bottle of baby blue nail polish and beginning to paint her own toes. Troy watched her for a moment, watching as she moved the little brush over her tiny nail. He smiled and she looked up, confused.

"What?" she asked, blinking and his smile grew larger as he saw the green goo drying on her face. "Seriously, why are you smiling like that?"

"Nothing," he said, still grinning, "you're just cute, that's all."

If Gabriella's face wasn't buried beneath two layers of deep cleansing avocado cream, he would have seen the bright pink blush that flooded her cheeks and neck. "W-what?" she stuttered, "I'm just painting my nails!"

"And it's cute," Troy said slowly, "you're concentrating so hard. Geez, I just thought it was cute, don't have an aneurysm. I think baby chipmunks are cute, too."

Gabriella ducked her head, unable to think of anything to respond with. "What was the book it was in, Troy?" she asked again, and he went back to flipping through the bible.

"It's revelations," he said absentmindedly, "right smack dab at the end! Figures he'd make me search for it!"

"What does it say?" Gabriella prodded, rearranging herself to read over his shoulder. "Read it aloud."

Troy cleaned his throat, scooting away from her slightly. "You get any of that crap on my shirt and I'll feed you to Sharpay."

Sharpay's wings twitched, and she turned around slightly, looking at Troy with a scandalized look on her face. Troy blinked at her.

"I was kidding," he said slowly and the angel glared before turning back around. Troy sighed. "Geez, she's more temperamental than you."

"Just shut up and read it!" Gabriella smacked him in the arm.

"Okay, here we go," he began, "And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, his face like the sun and..." he paused. "What the the heck, the angel in this is male. This doesn't work at all."

Gabriella skimmed the passage quickly before nodding her head in agreement. "Yeah, it doesn't really go into any specifics that could help us. What was the other one he suggested."

"Something in Leviticus," Troy said, flipping through the book again. "Let's see if that's any less of a crock."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Gabriella yawned. "It's mostly a book of rules, though," she pondered out loud, "oh well, might as well give it a go."

"Here it is," Troy said once he stopped at the page he was supposed to find. "These you shall regard as detestable among the birds. They shall not be eaten; they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, the buzzard, the kite of any kind, every raven of any kind," he took a deep breath, "geez, have these guys not heard of a period? That thing that goes at the end of a sentence allowing you to take a breath?"

"The ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind, the little owl, blah blah blah, insert the name of about six hundred other small birds," Troy summarized. He looked over at Gabriella, his brow furrowed in confusion. An equally puzzled expression was on her face.

"Um..." she said, biting her lip, "I don't...get it."

Troy closed the bible and stared at the red cover. This book was supposed to give him all of the answers? It was supposed to tell him what to do about the angel sitting in his living room? "So um, do you have any idea what he means?"

"Maybe," Gabriella rubbed her temples, "maybe he thinks that Sharpay is a bird?"

Glancing over at Sharpay, who had now risen on her knees and had her nose pressed to the screen, Troy's jaw dropped. "Do you seriously think he may have been telling me not to eat her?"

"Well, yeah" Gabriella said, biting her lip, "uh, my guess is he thinks you found a bird and think it's an angel...and he is telling you not to eat said bird."

Troy blinked and her slowly. He looked at the bible, then back at Sharpay, then back at her. Snapping the book shut, he threw it across the room and Gabriella sprang to her feet, racing over to catch it.

"Troy!" she yelped, "you are going to go to hell!" she picked up and book and winced upon discovering some of the pages had bent themselves in every direction as a result of the impact. Troy, however, remained nonplussed and annoyed.

"Fuck that shit!" he declared, standing up, "we are done with the Catholic religion. We tried it and they didn't help and so now, we are going to find alternate ways of doing this."

Gabriella sighed heavily, slumping down on floor. This was so complicated and so messy. Books just weren't helping the situation, priests weren't helping and they were two seventeen year old kids completely in over their heads.

It kind of made her want to slam said head into a wall.

"So what do we do now?" she asked, feeling exasperated. "I mean, maybe she's not even an angel. Maybe she's like some celestial fairy."

Troy grinned slowly, his eyes raking over Sharpay's wings. "That's a good theory, Brie," he said, "one we will inspect tomorrow at school. I'm thinking we need to put that more into action." He paused, glancing up and finally realizing Sharpay was vastly engrossed with whatever was happening on the television. He furrowed his brows.

"What are you guys watching?" he asked and Gabriella turned pale, scrambling to her feet and standing in front of Sharpay, blocking the TV even further.

"Nothing!" she said quickly and Troy strained to hear whatever was on screen.

"Did you follow me?" a low, female voice mumbled.

The response came a moment later. "I feel...very...protective of you."

"So you followed me?"

At this Troy stomped across the room and shoved Gabriella out of the way. "You brought Twilight into my house?!" he wailed, groaning when he saw that Sharpay was watching with a transfixed expression. "You know my movie rule! No singing and no vampires!"

"Troy!" Gabriella cried, latching onto his arm and trying to pull him backwards. "I just thought Sharpay might like a piece of popular pop culture! And look, she loves it!"

"Why would you do this to me?!" Troy asked, groaning again. He could take a lot of things, but he could not handle Edward Cullen. "Why would you give her Twilight, are you mental?"

"Hey!" Gabriella dug her nails into his bicep and he yelped. "I'm a seventeen year old girl! I like romances! I like Twilight!"

Troy glared at her before yanking Sharpay away from the television as gently as he could. "Oh, no, we are not doing this. We are not making my house a Twilight friendly environment. It has to go."

At this, Sharpay began to cry. She clung to the TV fiercely, her wings fluttering and her face wet with tears. This time, however, Troy didn't panic at her outburst. If it was over Edward Cullen, then let her cry. She was going to have to learn to deal.

"Troy!" Gabriella yelled as he pried Sharpay's fingers off the screen and she began to fly around the room, sobbing. "Look what you're doing!"

"I know what I'm doing!" Troy snapped, "I'm about to take this stupid DVD and scratch it so you can never use it again! It's for your own good!"

"Scratch it all you want!" Gabriella yelled, holding onto the tip of Sharpay's wings as she hovered up by the ceiling, crying loudly. "I brought her the books, too!"

Troy pressed several buttons on the machine, trying to get it to open faster. "I will! She can't read anyway, a fuckload of good a book is going to do her!"

Sharpay finally came back to the ground and the yelling subsided as Gabriella folded her arms and sat back down on the ground. Sharpay settled on the couch, watching him angrily. As the dust began to clear, Troy brought up something he had been thinking about for a good part of the afternoon.

"So I was thinking that we should fix up the treehouse," he said suddenly, pulling the DVD out of the player. He lifted it up to his eye and inspected it briefly before grabbing a pen off the coffee-table and scratching the surface repeatedly. At this Sharpay let out a wail before grabbing one of the throw pillows and ripping it open, feathers flying everywhere.

Troy paid no mind.

"Really? Why?" Gabriella, however, looked on with curious eyes as Sharpay thrashed on the couch, beating her fists against the cushions. She patted her on the arm. "It's okay," she whispered, "that was the bonus features disc. The other one is in the box."

The angel instantly calmed as Troy threw the disc on the ground and stomped on it with his foot. "Considering we have no idea where Sharpay came from and how to get her back to that mystical place, I figure she'll be here a while. My parents will be back eventually, and I don't want to have to explain her to them," he said, kicking the disc under the couch with his toe. "So I figured we could fix it up and it could be her kind of home for the time being."

Gabriella nodded, thinking it over. "That seems like a good idea."

"Besides," Troy said, slumping down on the ground next to her. "It has a lot of history, that old treehouse." He nudged her briefly, grinning and waggling her eyebrows. She knew exactly what he was referring to.

He was slightly startled to see her cheeks turn a light pink shade. Was she really blushing over the stupid kiss they had shared when they were ten? "Yeah," she murmured, "it sure does."

"I mean, I don't know about you, but," Troy began, "I still think that whole thing was fucking hilarious. I remember being so nervous." He laughed, "it's funny, now I think about ten year old me being so scared to kiss you, when here I am at seventeen and repulsed by the idea. It'd be like kissing my sister."

Gabriella didn't say anything and Troy felt even more disconcerted. Why was she so quiet? It was funny, wasn't it? The fact that they had shared a sloppy, anxious first kiss and were now so clearly not into each other. This was one of those things that you always say, 'one day, we'll look back on this and laugh.'

Well, it was time for laughing, was it not? Why was she not contributing to the laughter? He prodded her arm with his finger.

"You okay, Brie?"

Standing up abruptly, she grabbed her jacket off the arm of the couch and yanked it on. "I'm fine," she said quickly, "I'm going home."

Troy glanced around his living room, seeing the many cosmetics, movies and books that seemed to litter every surface. "But all of your stuff is here! Stay the night, or at least clean up!"

Gabriella shot him a pointed look, her cheeks flushed and her eyes hard. "I'm not staying over on a school night, Troy. Besides, I can get this stuff when I come by tomorrow, so just...just chill. I'll see you later."

With that, she practically stomped over to the front door, flung it open and slammed it shut. Troy stared at the empty space she had just occupied before turning to Sharpay.

"What was that all about?" he asked and the blonde angel blinked at him. Then she folded her arms and burst into laughter. She scooped up the Twilight book before flapping her wings and flying into his bedroom. He cocked an eyebrow, staring after her. What kind of reaction was that? Why was she _laughing_ at him?

Troy sighed. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

---

_Gabriella kicked the back of Troy's seat, humming along to the music as she and Chad waited in by the pumps at the gas station. Troy had gone inside to pay and he was, in her opinion, taking far too long._

"_What is he doing?" she asked, giving the seat another hard kick, "running off counterfeit money?"_

_From the front seat, Chad laughed and skipped through the songs on the CD player. He glanced over the dashboard and into the store. "There's a line Gabs, chill. Your prince charming will be back momentarily."_

_Gabriella stiffened at his insinuation and teasing tone of voice. "What the heck are you talking about?" she said, leaning over and resting her elbows on the console in between the two seats. _

_Chad laughed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Gabs," he said, smiling at her, "everyone can see how you look at him."_

_Cheeks reddening, she shook her head. "Yeah, like the big over-grown doofus that he is."_

"_No," Chad said with a shake of his finger, "like he hung the stars and the moon. Like he's the coolest person ever. Like you __**like**__ him." _

"_I don't like him!" she exclaimed, ducking her head down, "you're just being stupid. Troy's like my brother."_

_Chad gave a rather indignant snort before smiling gently. "Sure, Gabs, sure. But he feels the same way."_

_Her head shod up at this, curls flying in her face wildly. "What? Did he say that?"_

"_Well, no," Chad paused, "but I'm his best friend and I'm your best friend, I know you guys better than you know yourselves. You mean everything to him. He'd do anything for you."_

_Gabriella slumped back in her seat, folding her arms. Chad was so off base. "Yeah, right, except kiss me," she mumbled, clamping a hand over her mouth when she realized she said it out loud. "Oh! I mean—" _

_Laughing hysterically, Chad pretended to wipe tears from his face. "Oh, god, Gabs, your expression! Man! But seriously, don't talk like that! I don't wanna think about you two doing things like that."_

"_You're the one who brought it up," Gabriella said snidely, feeling hot and flushed. "Besides, I don't think you ever have to worry about anything like that ever happening. Troy's completely clueless and I'm never going to tell him, so it doesn't matter."_

_Frowning, Chad reached over and ruffled her hair. "Hey, he'll come around," he said softly, "not right now, not even in the next year, but he will. He likes you, I know he does. He just doesn't yet."_

"_Whatever you say," she muttered, throwing his arm off. The door on the driver's side suddenly flung open and Troy climbed back into the truck._

"_Goddamn," he said, putting on his seat belt, "it's like every single person in Albuquerque decided to fill up their gas tanks tonight. It was ridiculous."_

_Kicking his seat, Gabriella willed her cheeks to stop being so red. "Yeah, you took nearly a million years."_

_Turning in his seat, Troy narrowed his eyes at her. "Shut it, Brie," he raised a plastic bag and tossed it to her. "I got you gummie bears and a bottle of orange soda cause it's your favourite and I knew you were gonna complain." He turned back around and stuck the key in the ignition. "So shut your trap."_

"_What'd you get me?" Chad asked, holding out his hands and Troy smiled bashfully._

"_Sorry man, didn't get you anything," was the reply before he began to back out of the parking space. Chad shot Gabriella a coy look and she flushed brighter as they pulled away. _

_Turning the dial on the stereo, Chad threw this hands up. "Dude, tonight is the night, I can feel it in my bones!"_

Gasping for air, Gabriella shot up in bed. Clutching her sheets to her chest, she tried to catch her breath. Shuddering violently, she pulled them tighter around herself before bursting into tears.

The dreams wouldn't go away. They just wouldn't stop. Every night, a smaller piece of that night came back to her, another moment, another memory. No matter how desperately she tried to block them from her mind, they wouldn't go away.

She was stuck in a never ending cycle of terror, of the sounds of her scream and the smell of blood and the crunch of steel. Of hearing the last few words Chad had spoken.

She crumpled on her side, sobbing as she wiped at her eyes. The silence echoed in the hallways of her house and she had never felt so alone.

Three blocks away, Troy was sitting up in his bed, feeling uncomfortable and disconcerted. Sharpay was sleeping in his armchair, curled up like a cat with her wings folded over her like a blanket. She clutched the Twilight book in her arms protectively and he rolled his eyes.

Biting his lip, he couldn't explain why he felt compelled to do so, but he reached over and grabbed his cell phone. Flipping it open, he typed a quick text before closing it, waiting to see if there would be a reply.

Hearing the vibrations of her phone, Gabriella slid out of bed and shuffled over to her desk, picking up her phone. A new message appeared on screen.

"_Can't sleep? Is everything OK?"_

Feeling fresh tears spring to her eyes, she sat down on the edge of her bed before quickly typing a reply.

It was just like when they were kids. It was like they could still read each other's minds.

She hoped it would never change.

---

Thanks to my brother, for help with the biblical passages. Just as a note, I hope no one is offended with how Troy is treating religion because I truly do not want it to be seen that way. As someone who was raised in the faith, but isn't a practicing Catholic, I know how important it is to some and respect that greatly. It's all in good fun.


	4. Orange Soda

---

**The Cherubs**

Chapter Four: _Orange Soda_

---

Sharpay was, for a lack of a better term, bored. The weird human boy she was living with, Troy, had departed for a place called 'school' rather begrudgingly two hours earlier, and so had the pretty human girl, Gabriella. Though Troy had bemoaned that they really shouldn't leave Sharpay alone, Gabriella had sat in front of her and told her very specific instructions.

Number one, she was not, under any circumstances to leave the house. She was not to go exploring, she was not to poke her nose in anything and she was not to answer the phone. Sharpay had nodded in agreement, the only form of communication she had learned so far, yet the pair in front of her exchanged wary glances anyway.

Which explained why she was sitting in the living room, watching Twilight and tied to a chair.

Her head lolled to the side and she let out a groan. She could only look at this human boy's face for so long before it got ugly! Besides, did they really think that tying her to a chair was going to do anything? She was angel, it was like she had super powers! She closed her eyes and concentrated very hard and slowly, the ties around her wrists undid themselves. She smiled happily as she rubbed the tender skin before standing up.

What she needed was a mission. What she needed was a purpose. Angels didn't have day jobs; they normally hung around on clouds and played harps, this was a honest to goodness true fact. If they were sent to earth, however, it was because they were needed. They had a mission.

But what was her mission? She knew she had been given one before she fell off her cloud unexpectedly halfway through take off, but she couldn't for the life of her, remember what it was. Crashing through the treehouse and banging her head had certainly caused her to lose her memory.

She spread her wings and took off, searching the house high and low. What did she know about the place she was staying? It belonged to a human boy named Troy, who seemed to live alone, and occasionally, the human girl, Gabriella would come to visit. Human boy and human girl were best friends and human girl was in love with human boy.

That was it! she thought, that must have been her mission! Get human boy and human girl to fall in love! It was so very apparent that the boy was thick as a brick, so this was going to be difficult, but she was up for the challenge.

She arrived in Troy's room and began pilfering through his belongings. He had all of the typical items that one would suspect a teenage boy to have and after spending nearly half an hour flicking through comic books, she was beginning to give up. That was until she spotted a shoe box on the top shelf of his closet.

She pulled the box down from the shelf and ran her hand over the letters. B-R-I-E, it read, though she didn't know this. She merely shrugged and removed the lid, settling herself on Troy's bed happily. She clapped her hands excitedly when she saw that it was filled to the brim and began shuffling through the contents.

Inside the box were dozens of photographs, each and everyone depicting Troy and Gabriella at nearly every stage of their life. In some of the photos, there was a curly haired boy she was certain she had seen before, but shrugged it off. She smiled at the sight of them in silly costumes and laughed at the ones of them holding green, speckled frogs. Tilting her head to the side, she examined one of them at a particularly young age where a small version of Troy was pecking an even smaller version of Gabriella on the cheek. She grinned and pocketed this one, deciding she would need it for later.

She did have a mission, after all.

She continued flipping through the contents. Inside were crumpled notes that the two had passed back and forth during school classes, handmade birthday cards and mix CDs Gabriella had made him. There were several other odds and ends, seashells and pebbles, an old blue stuffed dog and some ticket stubs.

Sharpay sighed heavily, wondering what it could all mean. The humans were so confusing, she was positively stumped. All she could tell was that it meant something and she would figure it out!

There was a reason she had earned her wings, after all.

---

"We shouldn't have left her at home," Troy said in a panic as the final bell rang and he and Gabriella made their way to her locker. "Seriously, this was a bad idea. We're going to get home to discover that the National Guard is there, along with a SWAT Team, Ryan Seacrest, Larry King and President Obama! This was a really, really bad idea."

"Troy," Gabriella said diplomatically as she laced her arm through his so they did not become disconnected as they weaved through the bustling halls. "I'm pretty sure we tied her to a chair and then put Twilight on. There's no chance she'll even move from that spot, I can guarantee it."

Troy shook his head quickly. "I wouldn't be so sure! She's an angel, Gabriella, she must have some kind of crazy powers that allow her to be able to like...vaporize that shit! I'm telling you, she probably got out!"

He had been beside himself with worry all morning and afternoon, convinced that he should have just stayed home with Sharpay in order to ensure that she did not make herself known and get them on the front page of every newspaper worldwide. Gabriella, however, had insisted that he go to school. There was no point, she said, in staying home especially considering they really had no idea how long she was going to be there. What was Troy going to do, drop out of school?

Though he had readily agreed to this idea, Gabriella smacked him over the head and said that she was positive that if she were to just explain the rules to Sharpay, that she would comply. She wasn't a demon, after all, she was an angel. There was a difference.

Still, they were a little skeptical, so they tied to her to the chair. They both felt ridiculously guilty, worried that Sharpay would cry but she merely rolled her eyes at them and watched the movie. All seemed to be fine.

This of course, didn't stop Troy from worrying.

"You are really losing your mind," Gabriella said to Troy with a smile, as they stopped at her locker. She spun the dial and popped open her lock. "I think you should calm down."

"Yeah, Troy," a voice said and Troy instantly stiffened. "Listen to Gabriella."

"Hey, Josh!" Gabriella said brightly to the boy that approached them slowly. Troy rolled his eyes. "How are you?"

The boy smiled, his light blue eyes sparkling against his light complexion and dark black hair. "I'm great, Gabi. How about you?"

"I'm good, I'm good!" she said happily.

Troy rolled his eyes. "I'm doing great, too, Josh," he said snidely, "thanks for asking."

"Oh, Troy!" Josh said with a grin. "Didn't see you there!"

Troy cocked an eyebrow. "Uh, pretty sure you started the conversation with—"

Josh waved his hand. "It doesn't matter." He turned his attention back to Gabriella. "So, Gabi, you got a date for the dance yet?"

Troy had always hated Joshua Taylor, since the first day of Spanish class junior year. He had hated almost everyone that year, except for Gabriella, which was a side affect of the accident. However, he had warmed up to most, but he still loathed the very sight of Josh Taylor.

And seeing the blush spread across Gabriella's cheeks at his question, he decided that he hated him more than anyone he had ever had the misfortune of encountering before.

Gabriella giggled slightly. "Um, no, I don't, I—"

"Brie doesn't do dances," Troy said quickly, "so, sorry Taylor, but you're fresh out of luck."

"Hey!" Gabriella bristled and Troy wished she didn't look so angry. "It's you who doesn't do dances! I'm free game!"

Josh looked between the two, confused. "Well, if you don't do dances, that's okay," he said quickly, "but maybe you'd like to go out sometime anyway?"

Okay, what was this guy's deal? Asking Gabriella out? And in front of him, too? Who did that?

(Well, technically speaking, there was nothing wrong with what Josh was doing, though it was a little awkward to ask someone out in front of their best friend, but what the fuck ever, who does that anyways?)

Troy scoffed inwardly. Like Gabriella was even going to say yes, like she was even going to give this guy the time of day.

"Um, maybe," Gabriella said softly, "I um, have your number from when we worked on that chemistry project, so I'll give you a call and let you know. About the dance and the...the other thing."

"Sounds good! I'll see you later, Gabriella," Josh said, smiling slightly. He tucked a curl behind her ear and she flushed prettily.

"Bye, Josh," she said sweetly and beside her, Troy clenched his fists. Josh nodded politely in his direction.

"Later, man!" he said just as cheerfully and Troy gritted his teeth in response, turning to Gabriella, who was fumbling with the strap of her bag, embarrassed and awkward.

He stared at her. Why was she blushing like that? Over that...that _tool_! That complete and utter tool! She wasn't seriously going to go out with him, was she?

"You're not seriously going to go out with him, are you?" Troy asked as she pulled out the books she needed from her locker and checked her appearance in the small mirror on the door.

She shrugged, almost absentmindedly and flushed a little brighter. Troy clenched his fists tighter, feeling something tug in his stomach at the sight of her so undone at the words of a boy. Of _another_ boy. "I don't know," she answered honestly, "Maybe. Probably. Why not?"

Why not? _Why not?_ Troy could list the reasons up and down why she should not be going out with this boy, starting with the fact that she was Gabriella and she didn't date boys and finishing with the fact that this boy in particular was a _tool_.

"Uh, maybe because he a complete and utter douche," Troy spat, looking down at the ground nonchalantly. Gabriella's jaw dropped open slightly and she turned to him, shock written across her face.

"What?" she clutched her locker door so tightly her knuckles turned white. "What are you even talking about?"

Folding his arms over his chest, he sneered at her. "Uh, I am talking about the fact that Joshua Taylor is a complete and utter tool. All he does is talk about himself and play laser tag on the weekends. He has a scoreboard for it."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Oh, so what? Like that even means anything."

"Gabriella, he wears only black because it brings out his eyes," Troy stressed. Why was she not seeing the blatant lameness of this guy? "What kind of guy even _thinks_ about stuff like that?"

"Self-aware ones!" she said quickly, closing her locker door and starting down the hall. Troy hopped to catch up with her. "Ones who care about their appearances!"

Troy laughed out loud. "You're kidding, right?" she opened her mouth to respond and he cut her off. "Gabriella, he writes for a fucking frisbee magazine. You cannot justify that!"

She stopped abruptly and Troy slammed into her back, wincing slightly. She whirled around and looked at him angrily.

"Troy, I have not been asked out in almost a year!" she said fiercely, "almost a year! You get asked out weekly, despite the fact that you only ever really talk to me!"

Troy frowned. "That's not true."

Scoffing, she turned around and continued walking, Troy hot on her trail. Throwing the doors to the school open, she huffed; "Honestly, you're an idiot! You got asked out at lunch time by some girl in the ninth grade who asked if your teeth were real. If your teeth were real!"

"Okay," Troy's eyes grew slightly wide, "that was really weird."

"Yes, it was!" Gabriella agreed, "but this is the first time I've been asked out in ages. Since before...you know."

Something snapped between them and things grew quietly. They were a few feet away from Troy's truck and he looked down at his feet, feeling very small. He could practically hear Chad's laughter, practically echo the words he would say as he overheard their fight, forever the third party. His heart clenched painfully at the thought and he felt his knees grow slightly weak as images of that night flickered over his eyelids.

He glanced up at Gabriella, who was staring at him with wide, hurt, tired eyes. She sighed heavily. "This is a really big deal to me, Troy," she said quietly, "and I don't understand why you can't see that. Why you don't understand and want me to be happy. Don't you want me to be happy?"

Troy felt his throat close and his heart pound. How could she think that? "Gabriella, of course I want you to be happy!"

"Then _why_?" she asked, and he was startled to see tears gleam in her eyes as she looked at him. "Why are you so adamant that I don't accept Josh's offer?" she swallowed, "just tell me why Troy. If you really think he's bad news, or even if there's some other reason why you don't want me to go on this date...tell me."

Walking past her to his truck, Troy tried to compose himself. If Gabriella went out with Josh, suddenly he wouldn't be her number one anymore. She wouldn't call him if there was a storm, she would call Josh. She wouldn't come over for movies at all anymore, there would be no rare occasions. She'd be busy with Josh. He'd call her and there would be a chance she wouldn't answer, wishing not to be disturbed.

She'd love someone more than him. She'd love someone in a different way than she loved him. She'd love someone, really love someone.

And Troy would be alone.

It was selfish, really, but most of Troy's actions the past year had been nothing but selfish. If Gabriella were to fall into a romance with Josh, or any boy for that matter, where would that leave Troy? He had already lost Chad. He couldn't lose her, too.

He couldn't.

Yet as he slid the key into his truck door and looked over his shoulder at her, something in his stomach clenched painfully again. She looked so tiny, so fragile; the same girl that he had played Power Rangers with and who loved Gummie Bears more than anything in the world. The same girl who he had kissed in his treehouse, the same girl who bandaged his knee when he fell off his bike. The same girl who he had gotten drunk with for the first time.

The same girl whose hand he had gripped so tightly as they watched their best friend be lowered into the ground after a closed casket funeral.

She stood before him, wringing her hands and a few lone tears slipped out of her eyes and he felt himself tremble, wondering what was causing her so much pain, what he could do to fix it. Why couldn't he fix anything between them anymore?

So instead of telling her no, she shouldn't go out with Josh because he, Troy, needed her, he smiled. "You should go out with him, Brie," he said, his voice deeper than usual, "have a good time, too. You deserve it."

She sniffled quietly and nodded, wiping her tears away. "Okay," she said shakily, "I will."

"Good," Troy said softly, his heart dropping. It didn't seem like a good thing at all. "Now let's go home."

He slid into the driver's seat of the car and Gabriella opened the door on the other side and climbed in. As she sat down, she took in her surroundings and for a moment, she felt Chad sitting there, felt his presence lodged in between them and laughing, excited about the prospects the final party of the summer held.

Closing in on herself, overwhelmed by the past few days events and Troy's never-ending insensitivity and cluelessness, she buried her hands in her face and began to cry.

Troy closed his eyes slowly as he heard her sob. Unsure of what do to, he merely turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the school's parking lot. Gabriella continued to cry beside him.

Sometimes, Gabriella thought, it was like they were strangers. She wanted so much more from him, wanted their relationship to be so many more things, and he wanted things to go back to the way they were. Back to when they understood each other and the other had cooties.

He wanted his best friend back. She wanted a lover. They were doomed.

After several minutes, Gabriella's tears still had not stopped and Troy pulled into a gas station, mumbling something about filling up the tank. She nodded, leaning her head against the window pane and crying freely as she watched him in the rearview mirror, as he leaned against the pump and ran his hands through his hair. When the tank was full, he shuffled over to the small store to pay and she closed her eyes, wishing that the pain would go away.

It was always difficult riding in Troy's truck. Troy had considered getting rid of it time and time again, but it was a family heirloom and more than anything, held too much for him to let go of it. But everytime they stepped into it, a chill would run down their spines. Today, after feeling so emotionally ripped apart from her dream the night before and the utter chaos that was her relationship with Troy, being in the truck where Chad's presence was so overwhelming was harder than ever before.

Finally Troy returned and she noticed he had a plastic bag with him. He offered her a weak smile and handed it to her.

She peered inside and felt her heart stop at the sight of the contents. She looked up at him, and he shrugged, bashful.

"I don't know how to make things better; easier," he admitted, "this is the best I could do."

Pulling the bottle of orange soda and the giant, mega size bag of Gummie Bears out, she felt threw her arms around him and hugged him to her tightly. As his own arms wound around her and pulled her closer, she let out another sob, knowing that in this moment, being held was all she was going to get.

For that moment, it was more than enough.

---

They walked in the door fifteen minutes later slightly more composed, but still very quiet. They were both pleased to see Sharpay still sitting the chair, still watching Twilight on loop. Immediately, Gabriella raced over to her and undid the ties around her wrists and hugged her tightly.

"I am so, so sorry!" she all but squealed, "I promise that we will never tie you up again, okay? As long as you promise, promise, promise never to leave the house, okay?"

Sharpay nodded and Troy rolled his eyes, dropping his bag and keys down and heading for the kitchen. He glanced at the phone and noticed that it was blinking quickly, the red flash signally that a message was waiting.

Pressing the speaker button, he clicked the prompts as he walked over to the fridge in search for something to eat. Maybe to cheer up Gabriella and make up for trying up Sharpay, he would try to cook something special. Unfortunately, it appeared that the contents of his fridge were rather low.

"Troy, it's your mother!" the singsong voice on the machine filtered through the air and he froze. He could hear Gabriella and Sharpay pause in the other room and he closed the refrigerator door, listening closely.

"How have you been, baby?" she asked sweetly, "you better had be eating well! We miss you lots! Dad's been really busy, but he promises to call later in the week. Speaking of, sorry to call while you're at school, but the scheduling has been so hectic here even I can't keep up!"

He felt so tired and lonely in that moment, hearing the distant echo of his mother's voice. How many times was he going to come home to an empty house and have to only listen to her on a recording? Why couldn't she ever get her act together and call when she knew he was home? What had he done?

She continued to rattle on about things and he felt himself wishing that if he closed his eyes and tried hard enough, that she would appear. "How's Gabriella, honey? I hope she's doing well, that you two are looking out for each other! I spoke to Maria a few days ago and she said that Gabriella said you've been cooking for her. You had better be, I don't want either of you going hungry!"

Then why aren't you here? Troy thought. Why wasn't Maria here? Why was he alone? Why was Gabriella alone?

"Anyways, the point of this phone call is..." she sighed and Troy felt his heart sink further. He knew that whatever she was going to say wasn't going to put him in any better of a mood. "I know we said we'd be home at the end of the month, but it looks like...I know the season's almost over, but your father has some last minute meetings and some proceedings for next season, so that could take us well into next month. I'm so sorry baby, I know that—"

The message cut off then and the woman on the answering machine asked if he wanted to save or delete it. He deleted it before walking solemnly into the other room.

Gabriella and Sharpay would watching him with wide eyes, both unsure of what to do. Gabriella stood first and came over to him, setting a gentle hand on his arm.

"Troy..." she began and he shook her hand off. Hurt flicked over her face, but it went unnoticed by him.

"Don't, Gabriella," he said, running a hand through his hair, "just don't."

She bit her lip. "Troy, I just...I know how it feels. You don't have to—"

"I don't have to act like this," Troy said, "for God sake, I'm almost eighteen, I shouldn't be relying or needing my parents here anymore! This is ridiculous!"

"But Troy," Gabriella said, trying to get through to him. How many nights had she spent without her mother in the past few years? How many times had she eaten dinner alone? Why didn't he see that she understood, that she wanted to help? "I know that you were looking forward to them coming home, you always do, I—"

"But I wasn't, Gabriella," he said sternly, looking her in the eye. "It's no big deal it's just...ugh, they do this every fucking time! Every time!"

"Troy!" Gabriella urged, tucking at his arm, "just calm down, let's talk about this!" She looked over at Sharpay who was looking at them with wide eyes. "I...I—"

Suddenly, Sharpay spread her wings and took flight over to the television. Slamming her palm over the buttons on the DVD player in an attempt at opening it, she waited almost anxiously for the disc to dispense. Troy and Gabriella watched on curiously, wondering what she was doing. She flew back over to them and held up the Twilight DVD in his face. He frowned.

"Yeah, Twilight, so what?" he asked, "I don't want to watch it, Sharpay."

The angel blew her bangs out of her eyes and then held the disc in both hands before cracking it in half. She held it up and grinned brightly.

What happened next was like a chain reaction. Gabriella gasped in horror and Troy burst out laughing. In response, Sharpay clapped her hands excitedly before dropping the disc to the ground and stomping on it animatedly.

"Oh, wow!" Troy said, clutching his stomach and Gabriella couldn't help but fail to see the humor in the situation. "That was hilarious! That was exactly what I needed, just a quick pick me up! Oh, wow, thank you, Sharpay!"

He patted her on the head and she chirped happily in response. Sighing, the tension left his shoulders and he suddenly didn't feel so bad about his parents. It couldn't possibly be so bad when he had Sharpay here.

"I'm going to take a quick shower," Troy said, suddenly brighter. He grinned at Sharpay who smiled back ecstatically. "You guys stay here. Watch some sappy romance and put the volume on full blast for all I care!"

As he left, Sharpay jumped up and down and flew over to the television, pointing to it excitedly. She grabbed another DVD case, this one reading Titanic, and waved in it the air, trying to gesture for Gabriella to put it on. The dark haired girl, however, merely looked up at her sadly.

"You knew how to make him feel better," she said softly, "you knew. How did you know? You've known him three days and you knew. I've known him sixteen years and I didn't know. You knew he needed to laugh. I tried to make him talk. Why didn't I think to make him laugh? Could I eve make him laugh?"

Her chest felt tight and her heart felt heavy. Sharpay looked up at her innocently, confused as to why she was so sad. She fluttered over to her and placed a hand on her arm and Gabriella felt her eyes fill with tears when she noticed that Sharpay had somehow figured out how to apply the little flower stickers onto her nails.

"I don't know him anymore," Gabriella said, feeling her heart break, "I'm in love with him and I don't know him."

Sharpay looked alarmed and patted her shoulder awkwardly. Gabriella couldn't even appreciate her efforts, couldn't even crack a smile at how hard she was trying to comprehend human emotions.

"It's time to give up, isn't it?" Gabriella asked and Sharpay quickly shook her head. She may not know too much about humans, but she knew enough to know that Gabriella shouldn't give up on Troy, especially after the box she had found that morning.

Wait, did Gabriella know about the box? Sharpay rubbed her hand over Gabriella's back in an attempt to soothe her. Maybe she should show her the box.

"I've spent all of this time just...waiting," Gabriella said sadly, "just waiting for him to look around and see me. And maybe...maybe it's never going to happen."

She swallowed harshly and willed the tears to go away. Smiling sadly at Sharpay, she turned to leave. "When Troy gets out, tell him I went home."

Sharpay sighed and let the box drop to the ground. How she wished she spoke English.

---

Gabriella pulled her coat tighter around her shoulders, the cool fall air prickling against her skin. It was late, nearly eleven at night, and had her mother been home, she wouldn't have been able to venture outside. Hell, even if she told Troy, he would have demanded she go back home.

Well, at least, she hoped he would.

Either way, the streets were eerily quiet as she walked the five blocks from her house to the cemetery. The crisp leaves crunched beneath her feet and for a brief moment, she felt like she was fifteen and sneaking out of her house to walk the six streets to Chad's house in the middle of the night. Troy would walk along side her, carrying a backpack filled with water bottles of his parents liquor and they would giggle at the prospects of getting thought.

But looking around, seeing how still and quiet things were, how there was no Troy walking along side her and even if she were to go that extra block, there would be no Chad waiting for her at his house. Things were so different now.

Carefully, she pulled open the squeaky gate to the cemetery, walking along the patches of grass hesitantly until she came to a stop at a familiar plot. She stopped at it, kneeling down in front of the headstone and pressing a kiss to the cold stone in greeting.

"Hey, Chad," she said softly, smiling as best as she could. She placed a penny on the grass beside it, digging until she found the one she had left there previously. As kids, she and Chad were completely fascinated by the concept of 'take a penny, leave a penny' and had made a point to exchange them as often as they could. She felt the need to keep this tradition going strong, even if one half could no longer participate.

She settled back on her haunches and surveyed the space. Several bouquets of flowers still rested there, along with a few frame pictures of Chad with his family, Chad with Troy and Gabriella. A newspaper article sat behind them, lamented and Gabriella picked it up, glancing over it briefly. The past week's results for the LA Lakers bounced off the page in front of her and she set it back down. It was a sign that Troy had been there.

Basketball had been he and Chad's thing. They played together their entire lives and it was the one thing that Gabriella didn't share with them. Sure, she'd go to every game and cheer for the both of them as loud as she could, but it wasn't the same thing and she was fine with that. Following the Lakers had been their favourite thing to do, designating game days to watch in each other's living rooms and pouring over the score and plays the next day over lunch. Since the funeral, Troy had taken to clipping out the scores from the newspaper and leaving them on Chad's grave. It kept him up to date.

He and Gabriella never visited Chad together and she never said anything about the newspaper clippings. Likewise, Troy never said anything about the pennies, but they both held the mutual understanding that the other knew. It was just something they did, something they didn't question, something they didn't discuss.

They didn't discuss a lot of things these days.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around lately," Gabriella said, feeling the wind pick up and blow her hair around her face. "Things have been kind of crazy. Troy hasn't been here lately, though, so I guess you wouldn't know."

She sighed heavily, letting the information of the past few days register once more in her mind. "An actual angel fell into the treehouse, Chad," she laughed, "an actual living, breathing angel. In the treehouse. She's gorgeous, gosh, if you were here you would love her. Troy loves her. She's amazing, too, her name is Sharpay and she's a really good listener. I guess most angels have to be."

Pulling at the strands of grass, she felt tears prickle at her eyes. "You know what the weirdest part of it is, though, Chad?" she looked down at the grave and saw his name in a bold script and felt her heart sink. "The weirdest part is that out of all of the things that have happened in the last three days, the thing that upsets me the most is that the treehouse is gone. Troy says we should rebuild it, but only so Sharpay can live there. And even then, it's never going to feel the same. That was our place, Chad. I could go there and it was like...it was like you were there with me, you know?"

"Of course you know," she laughed to herself, "how could you not? Anyways, whatever, let's talk about something else, how have you been?" she paused, realizing it was futile talking to no one. Even if he was listening, he couldn't respond. "Good, good, I hope you've been good. School's been okay, too. Hard, there's...well, I'd say a lot of pressure put on me, but there isn't. Mom's still not around. I remember how you'd always say that one day things would just click and change and suddenly she'd be there. She isn't."

"As selfish as it is, after...after the accident, I kind of thought she'd be around more," she admitted, feeling a tear slide down her cheek, "and for a while she was. But it's like...something in her snapped and she realized that losing me too, was a very real possibility, and she didn't want to deal with it? I don't even know. She's not around, though."

Brushing away her tears, she shook her head, trying to clear her mind. "Oh whatever, I'm getting off topic again. Right, school. There's a dance coming up! I'm kind of excited, a boy named Josh asked me, but I haven't given him an answer yet. He's really sweet, he transfered to East last year. I think you would have liked him, but then again, you liked everyone."

She grew quiet then, swallowing. Shifting on the ground, she reached into her purse and pulled out the bottle of orange soda Troy had bought her earlier in the afternoon. She took a sip, the bubbles burning her tongue. "I asked Troy if he was going, in the vain hopes of maybe getting the courage to ask him to come with me...but he shot it down instantly. You know how he is."

The thing was, Chad did know how Troy was, probably better than anyone. He would have been able to steer Gabriella in the right direction, he would have been able to tell her whether she needed to hold on or let go. With Chad around, maybe Troy wouldn't have been so oblivious. Especially with the way Chad had been hinting at there being mutual feelings between the two the night of the accident.

It was what made Gabriella hold on. The words he had said to her as they waited in the gas station parking lot. Since Chad knew Troy so well, there was always the notion that maybe he knew something that she didn't. Something that told her she should hold on to the bitter end.

But the end seemed nearer than she had expected and the truth was, she was tired. She was tired of waiting, she was tired of wishing and she was tired of crying.

God, she missed Chad. He would have made everything better.

"Why did you have to go?" Gabriella asked, the tears falling down her face. "Why did you have to leave? Everything's so fucked up without you here, Chad."

She scrubbed her cheeks, brushing away the tears until her face was raw. "Troy and I...we can't function without you. You were our mediator, you were the glue. Troy and I...we don't know each other anymore. Sure he knows my favourite flavor of pop, but he doesn't know how his words affect me. He doesn't know what he means to me."

Sniffling, she pulled her knees up to her chest. "Why did you have to tell me that he felt the same, Chad?" she asked, feeling the night settle in around her. "Why did you have to tell me that? It's so clear that he doesn't feel the same way and now those words have messed with me more than you could ever imagine."

"I've been waiting for so long, Chad," she said, clutching the half empty bottle of orange soda in her hands. "I've been longing for him to see me. Why doesn't he see me? What's wrong with me?"

She thought back to the outfits she had worn, the make up she had applied; all in some silly attempt to get his attention. She had, but not in the way she had wanted. God, she had been so stupid. She was trying so hard and in the process, she had behaved so foolishly. Her cheeks flushed brightly at the memory.

She needed to let go of the feelings she had for Troy. She needed to accept that he wanted to be friends and that was all she was going to get. She could no longer let this boy control her and she would continue to love him and help him with Sharpay, but she would attempt to covet his kisses no longer.

"I think it's time to let go, Chad," she whispered, pulling her fingers back from the tombstone. "I think it's time to pack up my things and let go of Troy. I'll always love him, I can't help it. But I don't think I can do this anymore."

With that, she leaned forward and pecked the marble quickly, shuddering at how cold it was beneath her lips. Sitting up, she rearranged the flowers decorating his grave once more before tucking herself back into a ball. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a familiar number.

The line rang once, then twice, then three times before a warm voice picked up on the other end. "Hey, Josh!" she said, pretending to be cheerful, "it's Gabriella! What's up?"

She paused as she listened to the response on the other end and forced a laugh. "Oh, no, nothing's wrong, I'm just tired!" she lied, "so anyways, when you suggested that we go out, what did you have in mind?"

He responded excitedly and she felt her attention drift away slowly as her heart pounded in her chest. Standing up, she ran the tips of her fingers over the tombstone one last time before making her way out of the cemetery. Uncapping the bottle of soda, she poured out the remaining contents, watching as it streamed down the street.

It was time to say goodbye.

---

Nnnngghhhh. At least this story doesn't cause me to want to drink heavily like Stroke did. That's all I can say.

Pick up this chapter's tracckkkk. Peace.


	5. Kisses

---

**The Cherubs**

Chapter Five: _Kisses_

---

"Okay, this is the dumbest idea you've had yet," Gabriella declared, leaning against the side of Troy's truck. "I mean, going to the church, that made sense. Even looking things up on the internet made sense. This however, doesn't make sense."

Troy grinned at her, pulling his bike out of the bed of his truck and watching as Sharpay flew around the area. They had gone to a biking trail in the neighborhood, one that was rarely used during this time of year, so he had decided it was safe to smuggle Sharpay over for the car ride. Besides, if worse came to worse, then they'd simply say she was wearing a Halloween costume.

But since the trail looked like it hadn't been used since the beginning of it's existence, he didn't feel they had too much to worry about.

"Really?" he said, mounting the bike and testing the breaks, "I for one, think it's a great idea."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Troy, you want to put Sharpay on the handle bars of the bike and pedal really, really fast in hopes that you gain enough speed to fly and then return her to heaven or wherever manually, a la ET."

He stared blankly at her for a moment. "Yeah. What's your point?"

"My point," she said exasperated, "is that this is ridiculous and I can't believe you dragged me along." 

"Hey!" he said, annoyed. "I need for lookout and to make sure that if we fall, someone is conscious enough to call an ambulance!"

Gabriella climbed into the bed of the truck and sat down, folding her arms across her chest. "Well, I have things I need to be doing!"

Troy scoffed. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

She glared at him. "Like getting ready for my date with Josh later."

Troy stiffened. Josh had asked Gabriella out on Monday and it was now Friday. They were set to go out that night, and no matter how hard Troy tried, he couldn't help but get a sick feeling in his stomach at the thought of Gabriella going out with that...that tool!

Yet he hadn't tried to convince her not to go out with him, he reminded himself. She seemed excited about it, and it had been so long since he had really seen her excited about something, so he wasn't going to ruin it for her. It was the least he could do, after all.

"Oh, yeah," he said softly, pushing forward on his bike so he rode around in a circle. Sharpay watched them, bored, from the passenger seat of the truck. "I forgot that was tonight."

"Sure you did," Gabriella said, picking at a thread on her jeans. Troy glanced down at them and noticed how the only exposed skin was that of her knees from the holes that resided there. He bit his lip.

"You're dressing differently these past few days," he commented and this was true. Suddenly the cute, feminine outfits Gabriella had been wearing disappeared and she was clad in jeans, t-shirts and cardigans for the rest of the week. He felt weirdly disappointed and had he had more energy to focus on it, he would have thought about why.

But he had to deal with getting this angel back home, so really, petty things like that could wait.

Sharpay didn't seem in any rush to get home, though, but he figured he might as well try. For all he knew, she was missing, like a lost sheep from a flock or something, and it was his duty from a higher deity that he was to get her back. Lately he had been really concerned about being struck down by lightning or something. He glanced up at her in the truck and saw her yawn. He smiled.

Gabriella scowled. "Yeah, well I'm surprised you've noticed."

Troy shrugged. "It's not a big deal," he said, "just that...I don't know. You're more covered up, I guess. What brought it on?"

"Just decided that it wasn't worth it anymore," she said, leaning back on her palms.

"You mean _he_ wasn't worth it, don't you?"

She bit her lip before nodding. "Yeah. I do."

Troy flinched, her cold gaze somehow making him feel like it was _him_ that she was talking about. But that was impossible. "Kay, whatever," he said, "let's get this show on the road so we can get you to your date."

With that he called Sharpay from the truck and she flew over, before settling herself on the handle bars of the bike. Troy pushed off, pedaling down the path faster and faster, hoping to gain momentum.

Instead, Sharpay had leaned to the side, throwing off their weight and they fell to the ground with a crash.

It took nearly half an hour to get Sharpay to stop crying.

---

"_I might kiss you..."_

"_I might be bad at it."_

"_That's...not possible."_

Troy rolled his eyes and cursed Gabriella. She just had to give Sharpay her never ending collection of romance DVDs and Sharpay just had to take a liking to watching every single one. She had practically forced him into watching it and he would have completely refused, but the fact was that he found it kind of hard to deny the blonde angel.

Partly because she was really pretty and kind of awesome, but also because she was an angel and he really, really didn't want to go to hell.

So instead he found himself sitting on his bed flipping through a comic book as Sharpay sat about three inches away from the television in his room, eagerly watching 'A Walk to Remember' and hugging a pillow to her chest. Seemingly perplexed, she cocked her head to the side and paused the DVD. Troy glanced up, confused as to why the sound had stopped and glanced at her.

"What's up?" he asked, frowning. "Did the DVD freeze?"

Sharpay shook her head and pointed to the screen. Troy furrowed his brows.

"Uh, what?" he blinked, "that's Mandy Moore and some Shawn guy, whatever. Press play and keep watching, I want to go to bed at a decent hour tonight and you still have like, three movies in that stack that you apparently want to go through."

Rolling her eyes, Sharpay fluttered over to him and shook her head, annoyed. Gosh, this language barrier thing was getting out of control. Especially since she could understand him so well, how come she couldn't just speak the stupid language? She needed to do something to convey her question, something to get him to explain this confusing human ritual of the touching of the lips and it's significance.

Puckering her lips obnoxiously, she placed her palms upward on either side of her body and shrugged helplessly. Troy only frowned more.

"What are you doing?" he asked, frustrated. "Why are you smacking your lips like that?"

Wanting to pull her hair out in frustration, she flew back over to the screen and pointed to the boy and the girl and puckered her lips again. Troy stared for a moment before realization spread over his face.

"Wait, what, you want to know about kissing?" he asked and she nodded, pleased that she was able to get her message across quickly. It had taken her nearly two hours when she had inquired about the inner workings of the oven and she had probably created a new way of communicating that didn't involve the use of vocal cords as a result.

She flew back over and sat in front of him, ready to listen attentively. He smiled at her eager nature; how much she wanted to soak in the human culture. "Well, do you just want to know why people do it? What it is?" he asked carefully and she nodded.

Leaning back against his pillows, he closed his comic book and debated about the best way to go about this. "Well, a kiss is when you use your lips to touch someone. Technically, you can kiss someone anyway," he explained, "common places include the cheek and forehead, but...other people get creative."

She tilted her head to the side and he thought it best to leave that section at that. He was explaining kissing, not sex. Oh god, what if he one day had to explain sex to her? She was an angel, though, shouldn't she know everything about pro-creation? She must have known the meaning to life or something, after all, so...but then why would she inquire about something as innocent as kissing if she knew about everything else that was involved in physical relationships? Oh, whatever.

"There's another kind of kiss, a special kiss, where you kiss someone on the lips," he said, thinking about the handful of kisses he had experienced with girls over the years. "You don't do it with just anyone."

Sharpay nodded thoughtfully, before reaching over him to his nightstand where she plucked a framed photo of he and Gabi at a fair a year or two back. She pointed to him, and then to Gabriella, and then puckered her lips. Troy laughed.

"Are you asking if I kiss Gabriella?" he asked and she nodded, smiling brightly. He shook his head. "No, Gabriella and I don't kiss because you have to want to kiss someone like that. It's a sign of affection, a sign of love. You have to love or want to love someone to kiss them."

Frowning at his answer, Sharpay pointed back at Gabriella's beaming face in the picture before making a heart with her hands and shrugging again.

"Are you asking if I love Gabriella?" she nodded again and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I do, but not in that way. Not in the way that makes you want to kiss someone. I have kissed her, though."

Sharpay's eyes lit up. Bingo! This was what she needed, this is what she wanted to get to the bottom of. She clasped her hands together under her chin and flopped down onto her stomach, kicking her legs up in the air behind her. She gestured for him to continue and he laughed again.

"What do you want me to tell you about it?" when she nodded, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Well, okay. Um, Brie was my first kiss, so that makes it kind of special," he said, "first kisses are something you always remember, or at least, I remember ours."

"I don't know, we were ten years old and just hanging out in the treehouse one afternoon," he said, remembering how sunny it had been that day. "We were playing with our Pokemon cards and my Dragonite had totally pummeled her Vulpix. So it was just like every other day and suddenly she looked at me and asked if I had ever been kissed.

"_Have you ever kissed a girl, Troy?" Gabriella asked, setting down her deck of Pokemon cards. He frowned, confused as to why she would ask a question and he really wanted to get back to their battle. Winner got the awesome new holographic Blastoise card they had gotten in the pack of cards they had gone halfsies on earlier in the day at the corner store. And he really, really wanted it._

"_No," he admitted, a little bashfully. "I don't hang out with any other girls besides you. Why? Have you kissed a boy?"_

_She shook her head, her dark curls flying. "No, but I saw my cousin Victoria kissing a boy the other day. They kissed for like, five minutes and didn't even come up for air!"_

_Troy scrunched his nose up. "That's gross." _

"_I know!" Gabriella said, bringing her knees up to her chest. "It was way gross! But it got me thinking about kissing and you know, what it felt like and stuff."_

_Feeling slightly antsy, Troy figured it was best to just talk this through and get it over with. "Uh, okay, that's weird. Why?"_

"_Chad's kissed Taylor McKessie, you know," she said matter of factly, "and he's the youngest out of the three of us! He's still nine! I mean, what if I never kiss anyone? What if there's like, an age you have to be kissed by or else you don't get kissed?"_

"_I don't think that's true," Troy looked down, "I mean, I'm sure you can get kissed at any age."_

"_Just to be safe," Gabriella said, crawling towards him on her hands and knees, bumping their set up of cards, "maybe we should kiss each other."_

_Troy's cheeks flushed instantly and he felt himself nearly choke. "What? Kiss each other? Me kiss you? Why?"_

"_Just in case it turns out there is an age you have to be kissed by!" she explained, "that way we'll have gotten it over with and when we're older, we can kiss whomever we want!"_

_Considering this, Troy swallowed, feeling his heart beat quickly. Gabriella was awfully close to him and she was awfully pretty, with her big brown eyes and dress. But she was his best friend, did he really want to kiss his best friend? But what if she was right, what if there really was an age you had to be kissed by? He didn't not want to be kissed for the rest of his life!_

"_Well, okay," he said shyly, slowly, "but just this once."_

_She nodded, biting her lip. "Yeah, just this once."_

_He scooted towards her, his palms sweaty and his heart beating double time. Gabriella had closed her eyes, waiting in anticipation and he debated about what to do, realizing that it was up to him. Gosh, he was so nervous. Had he ever been this nervous in his life, especially around Gabriella? What if he did something wrong? What if they bumped noses or it turned out he was really bad at it? Taking a deep breath and closing his own eyes, he decided to just go for it._

_Quickly, carefully, he brought his lips over hers and pecked him quickly before pulling away. Her lips were soft, that much he deducted, and it felt nice, but other than that, it was way too scary for him to ever do again._

_He opened his eyes and saw Gabriella staring at him, stunned. She brought a hand to her lips and swallowed. He looked away, before settling his gaze back on the Pokemon cards._

"_So let's get back to the game, okay? I wanna see how quickly I can beat your Togepi," he said quickly and she nodded. A dazed expression remaining on her face for the rest of the day._

Troy sighed as he remembered the day so clearly. "I guess I remember more than I even thought I did, but I also guess first kisses do that to you." It had to be first kisses and the magic surrounding them, because he sure as hell didn't remember any details about his other kisses since then. "There's no date you need to be kissed by, just so you know," he said with a smile and Sharpay giggled.

"Now that we're older, though, Brie and I will want to kiss someone we really want to kiss, you know," he said, "we'll—"

"_My best friend's hot, my best friend's hot! No matter what I do you'll love me not_!" his phone suddenly sang and he groaned, remembering that he had yet to change the joke ring tone Gabriella had set for her contact a few weeks prior. She had laughed uproariously at the irony of the lyrics, stating that she was his best friend and she was hot, what a perfect ringtone for her. He hadn't gone around to changing it and everytime he heard it, he cringed.

Reaching for his phone, he looked at Sharpay confused. "What is Gabriella doing calling now?" he asked, "she still should be on her date." He paused then, briefly wondering if she was perhaps kissing another boy that night. He shook the thought from his head and flipped his phone open. "Brie? What's up?"

A choked sob came from the other end of the phone and he froze, sitting up. Sharpay straightened, as if instinctively realizing something was wrong. He pressed the phone closer to his ear, hoping that he had just missed her answer, but all he heard was shallow breathing and the sound of her sobbing. "Brie? Brie, what's wrong?"

"T-troy," she said and then he knew for sure that she was crying. "C-can you c-come over?"

He bolted to his feet then, running his hand through his hair. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asked, pacing his room in a slight panic as Sharpay watched on in concern. "Why aren't you still on your date?"

"I...I....I...j-just come o-over, p-please," she sniffed and he felt his heart pound. He glanced at Sharpay. He couldn't go over there...he couldn't leave Sharpay again. But the sound of Gabriella crying was unsettling him rapidly.

"Can't you come over here, Brie?" he asked gently, not wanting to upset her more. "I can't leave Sharpay."

Her voice was shaking as she spoke. "I...I c-can't. P-please come over here."

"Okay," he said definitively. He couldn't abandon her. "I'll be right over."

He clicked his phone shut and glanced at Sharpay, who was looking at him with wide, curious eyes. He sighed and kneeled down in front of her.

"Sharpay," he said seriously, "you are not, under any circumstances, allowed to leave the house. No, you aren't allowed to leave this room. I have to go over to Gabriella's, something's wrong with her, and I can't take you with me. So I need to be able to trust you and you will stay here and not move from the room, okay?" she nodded in understanding.

"Okay," he said, "I'm not going to tie you up, either. Watch your movies and stay here." He scrambled to his feet and grabbed his jacket and car keys. "I'll be home in a few hours depending on what's wrong. Don't leave this room!"

As she heard him bound down the stairs and slam the front door shut, she turned her attention back to the screen. She glanced around the room before standing up and walking out the bedroom door.

She needed to explore somehow and at some time. Now was better than never.

---

Troy ran the three blocks to Gabriella's house, hopped the fence and scaled the large oak tree in front of her balcony in record time. Opening the doors that led to her bedroom, he walked in carefully, not wanting to make any sudden movements.

His mind was running with a million different emotions as he made his way there. Something had happened to Maria, someone had broken into Gabriella's house, she had fallen down a flight of stairs. He was fraught with worry and he just wanted to make sure she was okay, that she would be okay. He hoped with everything in him that he'd somehow have the power to make it okay, even if it wasn't.

"Brie?" he called into the room and he felt himself freeze when he saw her curled up in a ball on her bed. He raced over to her immediately, his heart clenching as he heard her cry.

"Brie!" he lifted her up and pulled her into his arms. She was trembling slightly and her face was wet with tears. "Brie, what happened? Are you okay?"

She fell limp against him and cried, burying her face into his shoulder. "T-troy."

Rubbing her back, he pressed a kiss to her temple. "Shh, Brie, it's okay. What's wrong? What happened?"

"J-josh..."

Troy pulled back from her slightly, his eyes wide. "What about him?"

"He...he..."

Suddenly it all made sense. Why Gabriella was home from her date early. Why she was crying. That asshole had done something, he had done something to make her cry.

"What did he do, Gabriella?" Troy asked, hovering over her as he stroked her arm. She was shaking and crying and he had never wanted to punch someone so much in his entire life.

What did this creep do to her? What did he do to reduce her to these tears? "Did he hurt you, Gabriella?" he asked frantically, eager for an answer.

She shook her head weakly, sobbing as she wiped her tears. Troy moved closer to her, wedging her against his body. He pressed one hand to her waist and she shuddered, causing him instantly to draw back.

"Gabriella, then what happened?" he prodded again, his heart racing. "If he didn't hurt you, then what did he do?"

"He...he...we were making out in his car for a bit," she admitted and Troy stopped breathing, the thought of Gabriella kissing another boy oddly disconcerting to him. He shook the feeling off and swallowed, waiting for her to continue. "A-and...I don't know, I guess he got a little bit...he w-wanted a little b-bit m-more."

Troy's eyes turned to slits and his grip on her instinctively grew protective. He clutched her waist and she hissed in pain again. He drew back once more and looked at her with wide eyes. "He tried to force himself on you? Is that what happened? Did he get aggressive, Gabriella?" he asked, running his palm over the spot above her waist.

"I-I," she cried, "I...yes."

Exhaling sharply, Troy tried to regulate his breathing. He was going to kill him. "He did hurt you, didn't he? What did he do to you? Show me," he demanded and she shook her head. "Gabriella, let me see," he said once more, gently, "I need to see if you need to be taken the hospital."

Gingerly, with shaking hands, Gabriella lifted the hem of her shirt and Troy gasped when he saw the exposed flesh of her stomach, the left side of it bruised red and purple. He could make out the spots of violet where Josh's fingertips had pressed into her side harshly and the thin red lines where his nails had scraped against her flesh. Somewhere inside of him, despite the boiling blood and the urge to beat this boy into a pulp, Troy felt something inside him break.

She was hurt. Gabriella, his best friend, _his_ Gabriella, was hurt and had he just been stubborn and honest and mean enough, she wouldn't have gone out with him in the first place. This all could have been avoided.

"I-it's not as bad as it looks," Gabriella hiccuped, attempting to push her shirt back down, but Troy wouldn't have it; snaking his hand over hers before sliding down the bed to crouch lower to examine it. "I shoved him off right after this and ran home."

Running his fingertips gently over the wound, Troy looked up to see her wince. His heart broke once more. "I can't believe this bastard did this to you," he murmured. "I can't...oh God, Gabriella."

She shook her head, feeling the tears prick her eyes once more. "It's not a big deal, it c-could have been much worse."

Troy's eyes doubled in size and he looked up at her in shock. "Not a big deal? Not a big deal? Gabriella, this guy tried to rape you."

"But he didn't," she stressed, suddenly a lot calmer. "He didn't."

Feeling weak and useless, Troy's throat tightened and his own eyes filled with tears. "Oh, god, Gabriella, I should have been there for you," he said, defeated, "I should have been looking out for you, I should have...I can't do anything for you anymore!"

"Troy—"

"No, it's true!" he said, looking up at her, "I make you cry and then don't know how to fix it. I don't go see movies with you and I suck at talking on the phone. I just...I want to make this better. How do I make this better?"

Every bit of helplessness he had felt towards Gabriella in the past year came to a head at that moment, rushing forward and making him sick with the reality of it all. He really couldn't do anything to help her, wasn't even able to make the right shot when it came to his judgement. He knew Josh was a tool, but he didn't know he was capable of this. He wanted her to be happy, that was all, and since he couldn't bring her that happiness, he wanted her to find it elsewhere. And look what that had done.

His fingers made small circles over her sore skin and he felt his throat tighten further. God, someone had held her hard enough to bruise her. Who could do that to her? God, he just wanted to make it all better. He just wanted to do something right for a change. He just wanted to take it all away.

With that, he leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to her bruised stomach. On impulsive, gently, softly, he pressed another one. Then another. Then another and another, each softer and sweeter than the next. When he felt the goosebumps erupt on Gabriella's skin and heard her gasp, then sigh, he opened his mouth and flicked his tongue over across a particularly red mark.

She shuddered and he lifted his head, his mind screaming at him to stop before things got too weird. Something in him froze and their eyes met, stunned and wide. What had just happened? He technically just licked his best friend's stomach, best friends didn't do things like that. The most they'd ever exchanged were kisses on the cheek, forehead and these were on very rare, very few occasions. Gabriella blinked at him slowly and he curved his fingers over her stomach once more, pulling her shirt back down, never breaking eye contact. He swallowed thickly.

This was weird. Best friends didn't do this. Gabriella was looking at him with teary eyes that were holding a very different kind of look and her cheeks were flushed. He could feel the flush on his own face as he inched closer to her. He felt his heart pounding out of his chest and slowly, ever so carefully, he traced his hands up her hips, across her stomach and ribcage; coming to a stop on the planes of her neck. Bracing her chin in his hands, he looked into her eyes, his own tears filtering away and she looked back at him, tongue darting out to wet her lips.

Before he could contemplate what was happening, she leapt forward and kissed him, her lips firm and soft, demanding and submissive all at once. Her mouth worked over his gently, nipping and biting and though he knew this was wrong, knew that things like this weren't supposed to happen, he kissed her back.

He kissed her back eagerly and passionately, zealously and full of a wanton need he didn't know existed. He licked at her lips, begging for entrance and she complied, slipping her own tongue into the depths of his mouth. She whimpered against him and he felt himself crumple; grasping at the back of her neck, the strands of her hair, rubbing his fingers across her scalp. She tasted so good, so sweet; how was he supposed to know that she tasted like this? It was addicting; he couldn't get enough.

Everything about this was wrong, his mind said yet again as he lowered her onto the bed until her back hit the sheets and he was hovering above her. He abandoned her lips and peppered kisses across her chin, down her jaw and onto her neck. He kissed the skin there, lapping and suckling, scraping his teeth over the surface before running his tongue over the spot to curb the sting. She moaned slightly, breathing his name and his heart beat even quicker as his jeans grew uncomfortable.

Her small hands traced their way underneath his shirt, lifting it further and further up his torso till it rested beneath his arms. He pulled back slightly and yanked it off of his head and she raked her bare hands across his skin. He trembled at the feel of her warm palms, tracing and curving, exploring and discovering. She slid a single finger across his collarbone, remembering the time he had broken it as a result from a snowboarding accident at age thirteen. He removed her own shirt and then reconnected their lips, tugging and exploring.

Suddenly, they were both in their underwear, Troy fumbling with the clasp of her bra. Finally it came undone and the fabric fell away, exposing her naked chest to him for the first time ever. He swallowed thickly and stole a glance at her face, feeling sick and elated all at once at the lustful look in her eyes and her flushed features. He bit his lip, before raising his hand and cupping one breast in his hand, gently squeezing and rolling her nipple between his fingers.

She gasped and arched into him and he suddenly felt a surge of power. He was doing something right with her for a change, for once he did something and she responded positively. He wanted to cry out in happiness, but his mind was too foggy, his heart too full and his senses were in overdrive. Some part of him somewhere was screaming at him to stop, that this didn't make sense, that he didn't feel this way about Gabriella, but then he took the swell of her other breast in his mouth while his hand kneaded the other and she said his name in a breathy, high pitched whisper and he fell apart.

He wanted her. He needed her. He loved her.

But how did he love her? How much and in which way? Suckling her nipple, taking the hardened peak into his mouth and nipping at it gently with his teeth, he ignored these thoughts as her hands travelled down lower and lower till they were grasping at his waistband, slipping underneath and palming him in her hot, hot hands. He jerked against her touch and she grinded her hips into his and oh god, _stop_, his mind said once more.

He ignored it.

They touched and teased, bringing every nerve ending on his skin to life and continued to push the confusion away; forcing the sensations to the forefront. It was all encompassing, all consuming. Everywhere he touched, everywhere he looked, every breath he took; Gabriella was at the center of it all.

Several heated kisses later and murmurs of each other's names, Troy enlaced their fingers and positioned himself in front of her, settling himself between her legs. She lifted her thighs to rest against his waist and he looked down at her, before pressing his lips to hers in a languid kiss.

He remembered briefly the kiss they had shared at the age of ten and then thought if he had ever thought they'd ever really reach this point. As a teenage boy, he had thought about it; morbid curiosity and hormones, after all, but to see her lying there, panting and clutching at his hands so desperately, he realized that the reality of it was so different, so much stronger and so inexplicable.

Pulling back, his mouth an inch away from hers, he looked down into her eyes, into the ones he had looked at so many times before. "Are you sure?" he whispered, completely unaware of what was compelling him to even think about what was going to happen next.

She nodded slowly, placing a hand on his cheek and tracing his cheekbones. She kissed his lips quickly and laced her arms underneath his, holding onto his shoulder blades. Swallowing, he nodded back, kissing her nose before shifting and sliding into her.

They both gasped out loud, clutching each other tightly as the feeling of being joined washed over them. Troy felt Gabriella dig her fingernails into his back and he hissed, the feeling only heightening the sensations. She trembled and he pulled her flush against him before entering her further, till he was surrounded by her warmth completely.

Kissing way her tears, he held her, running his hands along her neck and back soothly as she adjusted. Finally, she shifted, pressing her hips to his in an awkward, jerky motion and he followed suit, trying to remain slow and create a steady rhythm, not wanting to overwhelm her and not wanting to take in the full reality of the moment.

Moving together, they gasped and clutched, writhed and shook as they climbed towards their climaxes. Burying his face into her neck, Troy traced the lines on her back, the thin white ones and pressed a sloppy kiss to her cheek.

"You're beautiful," he whispered and that was her undoing as she threw her head back and tumbled into her peak, shuddering against him.

Three blocks over, a winged angel curiously opened the front door before stepping out, and heading down the street.

---

I AM VERY VERY NERVOUS ABOUT THIS CHAPTER. Not so much the writing, because I am more than happy with it, BUT THE ACTUAL CONTEXT AND OH LORD. I hope you know this story is only half way through and...

Just remember: Gabriella kissed Troy first, okay? He may have kissed her stomach or whatever, but she was the first to kiss him on the lips.

ghdfighfigdfjg. *bites her nails* Don't forget to pick up this chapter's track, as it literally was all I've been listening to for about a week while writing this sucker. It serves as backdrop for the last scene and is SO VERY IMPORTANT TO ME.

I DON'T KNOW WHY I AM USING CAPS LOCK. Must be the nerves.

P.S. THANK YOU KERRY FOR READING THE LAST SCENE OVER AND MAKING ME FEEL NOT INSANE. :D


	6. Pipe Dreams

---

**The Cherubs**

Chapter Six: _Pipe Dreams_

---

"_No man, I'm telling you, you go get Gabriella," Chad said pointedly. "I'm gathering the music for this car ride."_

_Troy rolled his eyes. "Dude, it's a ten minute drive. We'll at best get to listen to three songs, just forget it and go get Gabriella!" _

_Chad shook his head. "No, you go. You just don't want to leave your precious truck alone while it's running."_

"_Well, it's a valid excuse!" Troy said, stiffening. He wanted to tell Chad to fuck off, that that wasn't it, he was just being lazy, but it was true. Troy was protective over his truck. Troy loved his truck. His truck had never let him down. _

_And well, if he was being honest, Chad didn't have the best track record when it came to things like automobiles. Or electronics. Or appliances. Or any material goods, really. In fact, Chad just had really, really sucky luck. Knowing Chad, Troy would walk the ten feet up to Gabriella's front door, fetch her and bring her back only to have his truck on fire, and he really didn't want to deal with that._

"_Man, your truck is going to be fine for the minute and a half it takes you to go get Gabi," Chad insisted yet again. "I'll man-down the fort here."_

_Troy hesitated, his fingers just barely grazing the door handle. "I don't know..."_

"_Go!" Chad said with a roll of his eyes. "Gabi's probably all dressed up and you're better at complimenting her than I am and you know she'll get upset if neither of say anything."_

"_Yeah, you're right," Troy said in agreement. The problem with being best friends with a girl was that sometimes you had to pretend to be interested in things like make up and celebrity gossip, and occasionally, you had to go to the drugstore to fetch her feminine products. "Might as well get this over with."_

_He stepped out of his truck and slammed the door shut before leaning in the window and glaring at Chad. "But if you fuck up my truck in anyway, you're dead."_

_Chad laughed and waved him away. Troy jogged up to the front door before knocking three times (their secret code) and letting himself in. _

"_Brie!" he called, "get your ass down here, we're ready to go!"_

"_Coming!" her voice carried down the stairs and a moment later, she appeared. She smiled at him brightly, her long dark hair curling in lose waves down her her shoulders. She was dressed in a pleated grey high waisted skirt with a dusty pink tank top tucked in. Over top she wore a cream cardigan and she wore black tights and a pair of shiny black ballet flats. Around her neck were several silver chains and in her hair was a tiny black bow. _

_Troy opened his arms and hugged her in greeting. "You look pretty," he said softly as she snuggled against him. When they broke apart, she giggled._

"_Thanks!" she said, grabbing her purse from it's spot on the coatrack. "Let's get going!"_

_He opened the door for her and they stepped outside. She groaned when she saw Chad in the front seat. "Looks like I'm stuck in the back," she mumbled and Troy laughed._

"_Oh, come on, it won't be that bad," he said, nudging her arm. He grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the car. Her fingers closed over his and he smiled at the warmth they provided. "It's a short drive, but we need to stop for gas first."_

_Opening the driver's seat door for her, Troy held her hand and gripped it as she climbed into the backseat. She stuck her tongue out at Chad in greeting. "I hate you, just so you know!" she said, "you just had to call shotgun without me being present! What happened to ladies first?"_

"_Whose calling you a lady?" Chad joked and she kicked the back of his seat. He laughed. "Chill, Gabi, chill. Now hurry up, Troy, I want to get to this party before it's over."_

_Rolling his own eyes, Troy climbed in the truck, feeling slightly giddy. He loved his friends, he really did and tonight was going to be a good night. He just knew it._

The first thing Troy thought when he woke up the next morning was that Gabriella was beautiful. He wasn't sure if it was the aftereffect of the dream he had just had, or if it was because she was laying beside him in her bed. Either way, she truly, truly was.

Troy had always thought Gabriella was pretty. Everytime he complimented her, he had meant it. But he had never thought she was beautiful and to him, at that moment, she was. He saw the violent looking white scar on her arm; another result of the accident and leaned forward, kissing it quickly, before drawing back to inspect her more thoroughly.

He skimmed his hand down her arm, feeling the soft skin beneath his fingertips. The soft morning sun spilled in through the curtains and illuminated her face and he closed his eyes before shifting closer to her and burying his face in her hair.

She sighed contently and snuggled further into him as well, nuzzling her nose against his cheek. He saw her eyes flutter beneath her eyelids and wondered, briefly, what she was dreaming about.

He hoped it was only good things.

A part of him had prayed that they wouldn't wake up; that they would be able to stay in last night forever. That each moment, each touch could live on and that they would never have to question it, never deal with the repercussions that their actions were bound to bring. That they'd never have to discuss it, never have to figure out what it meant.

What did it mean? His foggy mind asked. Why had they done what they did? He drew back slightly to inspect her face. God, she was beautiful in the morning light. But she had been beautiful last night as she kissed him, as she moved beneath him; as her nails drew lazy lines of red down his back.

She was his best friend. He wasn't supposed to do these things with her. He wasn't supposed to find her this beautiful. Swallowing, his throat feeling tight, he darted forward and kissed her bare shoulder, his lips lingering there as his hands trembled as they continued their journey down her arm.

His movements never stilled tough, and he decided that maybe, if they were to stay in this moment, too, he'd be alright with that as well.

Of course, at that moment, her eyes slowly pulled themselves open. His closed in response.

"No," he urged silently, "five more minutes. Just five more minutes before this all blows up in our faces."

No one heard his plea.

Her eyes slid fully open and he wished they would close. They didn't, instead she blinked twice before staring up at him sleepily.

"Hey," she whispered, her voice hoarse with sleep.

He smiled gently and guffawed slightly, brushing his fingers over her nose in a greeting. "Good morning."

She tangled her legs with his and he welcomed the extra body heat. She moved slowly, carefully, as if she was afraid that if she moved to quickly, they would break. He traced his fingers across her lips and settled them in her hair. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, her voice still quiet. "Just sore."

He flushed, his cheeks bright red at the insinuation and reality of her discomfort. What had caused it. "Sorry."

She smiled at him. "It's okay."

Once again he thought she was beautiful and then took notice of how easy this was. He had been expecting something awkward, something uncomfortable. Had expected that she would start crying or demand that they discuss at once everything about last night. What it meant, what happened, what was wrong (what wasn't wrong?) and what was right. Not this. Not this quiet comfort, this ease.

He felt closer to Gabriella than he ever had, as he should. They were connected now in a way that was completely different from anything they had experienced. They had given themselves to each other. They knew each other inside and out now. The very thought made him shiver.

He looked at her again and saw the smile of contentment playing on her features as she drew circles on his bicep. She looked so peaceful, so happy and he couldn't recall a time when he had seen her this serene. He tried to remember the last time they had woken up beside each other, but it had been too many months ago and had been after a night of heavy drinking. It had been Chad's birthday and they were finding it too difficult to function. So they drank until they passed out and woke up in Troy's bed the next morning.

It had been nothing like this, thought. Not at all. Gabriella had thrown up and Troy held back her hair as he tried not to vomit himself. He laughed to himself before another memory popped into his head.

"Do you remember when we were five?" Troy asked, playing with a strand of her long hair that fell over her cheekbones.

She shrugged. "I remember a lot of things from back when we were five. Which were you referring to?"

He smiled, recalling the memory fondly. "The time when we went to church with your family and you said we were going to get married."

"Oh," she said with a giggle. "I remember that now. I was convinced that one day I'd walk down the aisle in a big white dress and see you standing there in a black tuxedo," her voice dropped an octave, "promising to love me forever."

"Hmm," he said with a nod, "I remember thinking the same thing."

Her eyes fluttered shut as his fingers traced soft circles on her cheek. "What brought this up?" she asked, yawning slightly.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Just that I was thinking about it the other day when I went to the church. It was the first thing I remembered when I got there. How young and naive we were. How when we were young, all we saw and had was each other."

She opened her eyes slowly, looking at him. "Not much has changed, has it?" she asked and he shook his head, his heart pounding.

"No," he responded, "I guess not a lot has."

His hand traveled down the length of her then, curving over her ribcage and waist, down to the top of her hip where the bruises lay. He skimmed his fingers over them, peeking beneath the comforter that covered them to examine the blemish. He swallowed roughly when he saw that the bruises had deepened in colour and were turning yellow in some spots. His heart clenched painfully.

She hissed as he pressed down on one by accident. Lessening the pressure, he stroked the skin gently. "Does it still hurt really badly?" he asked and she nodded.

"Yeah," she admitted, "it does. It must have gotten worse over night or whatever." Her face scrunched up in pain then as she shifted, and despite his better judgement, despite the little voice in his head telling him to do otherwise, he scooted forward and pressed his lips to hers.

"I'm sorry you're in pain," he against her mouth. "I really wish I could make it better."

"It's okay," she said, kissing him back, "you are."

His hands looped around her waist and he pulled her so she was on top of him, her chest flush against his. "We need to talk about this," he murmured in between kisses as his hand weaved into her hair. "We really, really need to talk about this."

"We will," she whispered, pecking his lips gently. "We will."

He nodded before kissing her back eagerly, his lips moving against hers languidly, gently as his hands splayed across her bare back. This was still wrong in so many ways, still felt wrong. Yet something about it, the natural ease of how their lips fused together, the way her skin felt against his, the way they _fit_. It all felt right.

Soon they would discuss this, what it all meant, what they were feeling, what had happened and figure things out. They would laugh about it, just like they laughed about their first kiss and chock it up to hormones and go back to being best friends. A few kisses in between wouldn't hurt for now, he decided. They could figure it all out later. He knew they would.

Except Troy failed to remember that Gabriella had never laughed about their first kiss.

---

They walked over to Troy's house in silence, but it was comfortable. Gabriella had looped her arm through his and he welcomed the gesture her, enjoying the warmth and comfort she provided. When they finally arrived, they kicked off their shoes and Troy called for Sharpay, expecting her to flutter down the stairs happily.

But she didn't.

"Sharpay?" Gabriella called into the house. She furrowed her brow. "Maybe she's asleep?"

Troy nodded. "Yeah, maybe," he said, distractedly. He bounded up the stairs, Gabriella hot at his heels and opened the door to his bedroom. "Sharpay?"

But she was no where to be found. She wasn't in his room, watching movies. In fact, the DVD menu for 'A Walk to Remember' played on his screen, meaning she had left shortly after he had.

She was gone.

"She's not here," Troy said, suddenly panicking. "Oh my god, fuck, Gabriella, she's not here."

He turned to her and saw that her face had turned pale. "W-what?" she asked meekly. "She has to be somewhere."

He shook his head. "No, she's not here. Sharpay is gone."

"Shit," Gabriella said, "this isn't good. This isn't good."

"No kidding it isn't good!" Troy barked, feeling stressed and panicked. Where was she? What was she thinking, he had specifically told her not to leave! Why did she leave, what did angels need to do? It's not like she had to run errands. "What if someone sees her?"

The exchanged a look before bolting out of Troy's room and down the stairs. Without a word, they raced outside.

What transpired next was a frenzied rush to his truck and a wild goose hunt as to where she could possibly be. They searched through the streets, calling out her name and hoping that there would be some sign that an angel had appeared, that the people were in an uproar at witnessing a miracle, at seeing such a creature. But it wasn't as easy as that.

They had been driving around in circles for hours. The sun was beginning to set and it had started to rain twenty minutes earlier. Troy was feeling disgruntled and panicky and Gabriella leaned her head against the glass of the window, her eyes watery as she bit her lip. He glanced at her and saw that there was a purple-red bruise on her neck. He closed his eyes and inwardly winced.

He had done that to her. That was his mark. He shuddered, shaking away the thought.

"Where could she have gone?" he mumbled, more to himself than Gabriella. "Where did she go?"

"She's an angel, Troy!" Gabriella said, "she could have gone anywhere! She could have left!"

Troy shook his head. "I know she's an angel, but she's not that smart!" Gabriella gaped at him and he rolled his eyes. "You know it's true! She sits around and watches chick flicks all day! She wouldn't go some place other than Albuquerque!"

"But," Gabriella paused, "what if some higher power has told her to go? What if it wasn't in her hands?"

Slamming his hand against his steering wheel in frustration, he shakes his head. Gabriella jumps and he instantly feels bad, but says nothing. "No, Gabriella, I'm telling you she's still in Albuquerque. I can feel it."

They drive past the bike trail in case she went back there. She didn't. They check every video store location in case she somehow figured out what they were and decided she needed new movies. They never spoke to the workers there if they had seen anything unusual. They hadn't. They went to the school, in case she had somehow gotten the idea to hang out there to see what they complained about day in and day out. She hadn't gone there either. Then they went to the cemetery.

The one Chad was buried at.

Neither of them would get out of the car.

"You go," Gabriella urged, "please."

Troy shook his head, his fingers gripping the steering wheel. "No, Brie, I _can't_. You go."

"Troy!" she said, biting her lip, "one of us has to go and it's not going to be me. I'm not getting wet. You go."

He sighed heavily. They were both too stubborn to go by themselves; at this point, they weren't going to get anywhere. Opening the door of his truck, he stepped out and heard Gabriella give a sigh of relief. The rain instantly pelted against him, matting his hair and soaking his clothes.

He had other plans, however, and he walked over to her side of the truck and yanked open the door. She continued staring straight ahead, her hands in her lap.

"I'm not going, Troy," she said quietly and he pulled on her arm, trying to get her out. "I don't want to get wet."

"Yes, you are," he tugged harder. "I'm not going by myself."

She shook her head. "No."

"Gabriella!" Troy said firmly and she turned to look at him. "Please don't make me go alone."

His voice was childlike and vulnerable and she softened almost instantly before climbing out of the truck. "Okay," she said, the rain creating a silhouette around her frame, "let's go."

He grabbed her hand and clutched it tightly. She squeezed back and together, they made their way through the cemetery, calling for Sharpay everywhere. She didn't respond and they heard no flutter of wings.

The cemetery was eerie, there were no other words to describe it, especially in the rain. The water puddled in the grass and collected on the dips in the engraving on the headstones which shone under the film of moisture. The presence of spirits and the past hovered in the air and sent chills down their spines. They felt like they were intruding, that something was off with them being their together. They had ever only gone separately. As they neared Chad's grave, Gabriella dug her nails into Troy's hand and pulled back.

"She's not here," she whispered, "let's go."

"Brie," Troy said, running his thumb over her knuckles. "This is the only logical place. We have to search up and down."

She sighed and tears sprung to her eyes. "I know, but—" she glanced up and her eyes fell on a cross resting against a tombstone. "No, it isn't. I know where she is."

Troy cocked an eyebrow. "What? Where?"

Looking him in the eye, she then turned and let go of his hand before running back to the truck. "The church!" she called, "she's at the church!"

"What?" Troy asked, shocked, "why would she be at the church? We don't even know—"

"If she's Catholic, I know," Gabriella said, pumping her legs faster as she dodged the tombstones. "But I'm telling you, she's there. I can feel it."

With that, they hopped into the truck, sopping wet and itchy, and drove across town to the local parish. Once they were there, they exchanged glances before swallowing.

The lights from the inside illuminated the stained glass windows, casting rainbow glows and reflections onto the pavement. There was a lone car in parking lot and it was starting to get dark. The crash of thunder sounded above them as lightning struck. Gabriella shuddered and Troy stole a glance at her. She was scared, but right now, he had more important things to worry about that her childish fears.

They stepped into the church quietly, Troy several feet in front of Gabriella as she scurried to catch up with him, trailing water behind them. On the right side of the church, sitting in the front row by the alter was a little old lady, dressed in her Sunday's best. Her head was bowed and her hands folded as she prayed to herself quietly.

On the left side, sitting up in one of the pews in the middle was Father Benjamin. His head was also bowed and in his hand he held a rosary. His eyes were closed and tears streamed down his cheeks. Feeling his head pick up speed, Troy raced forward and Gabriella followed behind him.

When they got closer, they saw Sharpay nestled down on the wood of the pew, her head resting against her elbows as she slept, her wings folded over her. Her blonde hair spilled over the seat and dangled on the ground. As they approached, Father Benjamin looked up at them and raised a hand in greeting.

"Good evening, my children," he said softly, "Certainly wasn't the best night for a stroll, was it?"

Troy swallowed, running a hand over his dripping hair. "Good evening, Father. Um..."

The man smiled. "I presume this is the angel you were telling me about? And this is your friend, Gabriella?"

Troy glanced behind him at Gabriella, who had crept so closely that she was hidden behind him. He nodded. "Um, yes, that's...that's correct."

The priest looked down at the angel who breathed slowly as she slept. "She's been here all day," he said fondly, "just watching and observing."

"Really?" Troy asked, "Well...well, that's great."

Father Benjamin nodded. "She has brought peace to this church for the day."

Gabriella gripped the back of Troy's shirt and he realized that it was time for them to go. "Um, if it's alright Father, I'd like to take her home now."

"Alright," he said, without a moment's hesitation. "I suppose that would be fine. But my boy," he said, "thank you for allowing me to witness a miracle."

Nodding, Troy scooped Sharpay up in his arms and held her closely to his chest. She was safe, thank goodness. He turned to leave, but Gabriella didn't follow. He nudged her with his elbow, but she still did not budge.

"Brie," he said, "we have to go."

"Father," she said, despite Troy's protests, "why is the woman over there not here, looking at Sharpay? Why isn't she...why..."

"Why is she not fascinated by her?" he asked and Gabriella nodded. "Well, my dear, it's quite simple. She cannot see her."

Troy's eyes grew wide. "Wait, what?"

Father Benjamin smiled. "Only myself, you and Gabriella can see her."

Shaking her head, letting droplets of water fly every which way, Gabriella gaped. "But why?"

With another smile, the man stood and began to walk away. "In due time, it will all become clear to you. I'm sure the angel will see to it."

Then, humming a soft tune under his breath, he left.

---

Twenty minutes later, Sharpay was snuggled under the blankets in Troy's bed, sleeping. He sighed, relieved that she was fine, before walking downstairs. Sitting on the couch was Gabriella, her clothes wet and clinging to her figure. Troy swallowed harshly upon seeing her.

He was suddenly angry at her. Angry for calling him, angry for kissing him, angry for not demanding that they talk things through as soon as they woke up at that morning. Angry because had she not called him, had she not gone on that date, Sharpay wouldn't have gotten out and they would never had had to go through what they just did.

He was angry that she had known where to find her, angry that it hadn't even been a big deal; no one could apparently see Sharpay anyway. He was just angry that she had toed the line between friends and something more and now it was fucked, now it was erased.

She had to kiss him.

"I can't believe no one can see her," she said quietly as he approached her. "I can't believe this all happened.

"Well, believe it. This is all your fault, you know," Troy said suddenly, folding his arms and leaning against the wall. His heart rate still hadn't decreased and after all of this time, he still felt on edge. Despite the fact that Sharpay was safe and sitting in his bedroom, he still felt panic, still felt worry, still felt like he was going to just burst from the mess of emotions he was feeling.

From her spot on the stairs the led upstairs, Gabriella lifted her eye and looked at him with wide eyes. "What?" she asked, and her voice was so quiet, so childlike, that he barely recognized it. "What's my fault?" 

Scoffing, he ran a hand through his hair. "The fact that Sharpay got out. The fact that we just found her in a fucking church in the middle of the evening on a Saturday."

Her mouth fell open and she blinked at him, trying to think of something to say in response. He wasn't blaming her. He wasn't saying that something that was completely out of her control was her fault. He wasn't, was he? "That's my fault? How in the world is that my fault? It doesn't even matter, no one can see her!"

"How is it not your fault, Gabriella?" he all but spit. Just like the night before, his mind urged him to stop, but since when had he listened to it lately? He had all but tossed it to the side, sick of it's logic, sick of it's condescending tones. "You were the one who called me. You were the one who begged to me to come over. And what if someone had seen her, huh? What would we do now? You shouldn't have called."

Gabriella sprang to her feet. "I was almost raped, Troy!" she said lowly, "I needed someone! How is that in any way my fault? Sorry that I wanted to turn to my best fucking friend during my time of need."

"But if you had just listened to me," he spat, unfolding his arms and clenching his hands by his side, "if you had never gone out with that scumbag in the first place, none of this would have happened."

"None of this?" she asked, feeling ashamed and dirty. Tears filled her eyes and she bit down on her lip to try and stop them from spilling over. "None of this? Do you mean last night, too?"

"Of course I mean last night!" Troy threw his arms up in frustration. How had everything gone so wrong? "Last night was a mistake, Gabriella! We never should have done what we did, best friends don't do things like that!"

Gabriella began to cry then, her voice breaking as she sobbed. "How can you say that?" she still did not yell, instead just brushed her tears away quickly. "How can you look me in the eye and say all this is my fault after what happened? After you...after what we did! After you touched me! You made the first move, Troy, I thought you wanted it!"

He scoffed again and leaned his head back against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut. Go away, he urged mentally, just go away. "So what? You kissed me first! I was only comforting you because you went and got yourself in this stupid mess because you didn't listen to me in the first place!"

"W-what?" she asked, crying harder. "Listen to what you're saying, Troy!"

"If you had never gone on that stupid date with Josh, you would have never been in that position and needed my help and we would have never done what we did!" he said hastily, "and then Sharpay would have never gone out!"

"Fuck you!" Gabriella screamed, her quiet voice gone. "Fuck you, Troy! Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you! If you had just opened your eyes for one goddamn moment, you would have seen that I've been falling all over myself these past few months to get you to notice me! If you had just paid attention then you could have let me down easily, instead of catching me when I was vulnerable and sleeping with me!'

Troy winced. God, it sounded awful, what was she even talking about? "Why would you want me to notice you?"

She stomped her foot angrily. "Because I'm in love with you, you idiot!" His jaw fell open. "Yes, you fucking stupid boy, I'm in love with you and I have been for years. Those outfits? They weren't for some boy, they were for you, because I wanted to impress you, because I wanted you to see me as more than your best friend who wasn't even a girl."

"And then...and then last night," she let out a sob as a tear fell down her cheek. "Last night happened and you were so...you were so sweet, Troy. So gentle. I...I thought you felt the same. I...last night was so _special_ to me, Troy. You...you were my first."

Troy closed his eyes and felt his heart lurch. "You were my first, too," he admitted and she gazed back at him, wringing her hands.

"Last night was so special and now you've ruined it," she said, choking, "you've tainted it. All I'm going to remember are these words you've thrown in my face."

"It should have never happened," he said, digging his nails into his palm.

"Then what was this morning?" she asked suddenly. "Why did you kiss me this morning? Why did you touch me? Was it all just hormones? How can you say that it all just really meant nothing? That it should have never happened? Why didn't you tell me then? Why did you act like everything was okay?" she sneered. "What, did you just want another fuck?"

He looked up at her, shocked. "No! Gabriella, that's not it! I was confused, I am confused!"

"Well then what was it then?" she demanded, "you know I was trying to get over you! I was trying to move on and you just had to fuck it all up!"

"What do you want me to say?" he said, his tone noticeably gentler. "That I'm sorry? I _am _sorry, Gabriella, I wish I could take it back, but I can't."

She bit her lip. "What do you want to take back, Troy?" she asked. "Last night or the words you said?"

He paused before responding. "Both. I want to take them both back. Neither meant anything."

"How can you say that?!"

"How can I not?" he asked, running his hand through his hair again. "I wish last night never happened because things are more fucked up between us than every now, Gabriella. No matter what you felt...feel for me, we should have never done what we did. Best friends don't do that."

"But Troy," she whispered, "I don't want to be your best friend. I'm in love with you."

He looked up and met her glassy eyes. "I love you, too, Gabriella," he said and his heart sunk when he saw the hope spring up in her eyes. "But not in the way you love me. Not how you want me to love you. I can't give you more than that. It's ruined now."

She swallowed thickly and nodded. "Okay, so, you'll sleep with me, you'll fuck your best friend, but you won't love me? How dare you?"

"Gabriella—"

"No!" she batted his hand way as he reached forward to touch her. "You think you can just jerk me around? Can just call me for help whenever you damn please? Well, you can't Troy! I won't let you! Fuck you, we're done."

"Gabriella—" he tried weakly again, but she merely began making her way to the front door. "What about Sharpay? What, you're going to leave now?"

"Damn right I'm going to leave!" she yelled, grabbing her coat and throwing it on. "Forget Sharpay, you learn to deal with her on your own! I'm done here. I'm done with you."

He bit his lip so hard he felt the skin break. "Fine! Just leave then, you're the one who has fucked everything up, anyway!"

She slapped him then, so hard his head whipped back. "_None_ of this is my fault, Troy, none of it!" she hissed lowly. She turned to leave, but as she placed her hand on the doorknob, she spoke once more.  "You know," she said, bitterly, "I never expected you to love me back, but I always figured it was worth a try. Thinking, maybe one day he'll feel the same. Maybe one day we can be happy again. But I knew it was a goddamn pipe-dream and I was okay with that."

"But what I also never expected was for you to treat me so cruelly when I revealed how I felt," her voice broke then, "I expected you to at least let me down gently. I keep thinking I don't know you anymore lately and...and I'm right. The you I know would have never done any of this, and if he had, he would have never blamed me."

With that, she opened the front door and slammed it shut behind her, the windows rattling in her wake. Troy glared at the spot she stood in moments earlier, before turning and walking up the stairs.

"Fuck her," he said, "I don't need her. All she did was cause trouble. Asking me to cook her breakfast, getting me to drive her places. Calling me in the middle of the night because it's fucking raining."

When he reached the top of the stairs, he slid down to the ground and rested his forearms on his knees, taking a deep breath. "She needs to learn to grow the fuck up. She needs to stop being afraid of fucking thunder storms."

Outside, the rain pelted against the rooftop loudly and a blot of lightning hit the sky, illuminating the dark space. He imagined Gabriella soaking wet as she walked the three blocks back to her house, tiny and terrified. He felt his throat tighten and leaned his head against the back of the wall, before he swallowed and tried to hum a familiar tune.

He really was alone. His parents weren't there, Chad was gone, and now Gabriella was gone. His biggest fear came true; he had lost her. He had lost his best friend, his everything, because he was too stupid. The lump in his throat grew bigger and he pinched his arm, willing himself not to cry as he focused on the melody.

"_Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,_" he whispered, "_silver white winters that melt into springs, these are a few of my favourite things._"

His voice was shaky and off key, but he continued, gripping the ground in an attempt to get his bearings. "_When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad_," he paused then. This was the part that Gabriella would usually take. She wasn't there to sing with him. She probably would never sing with him again. _"I simply remember my favourite things and then...I don't feel so bad._"

He found that he didn't feel so bad. He just felt worse.

---

I know I know. He sucks.

Anyways, two tracks this chapter! Both are so lovely. Also, I was being a major dork today and made a trailer for this fic. The link is up in my profile.


	7. Scrapbooks

---

**The Cherubs**

Chapter Seven: _Scrapbooks_

---

Way back when, before digital cable and iPhones, people used Sundays as a day of rest. As a time where no work was needed, just play and relaxation. It was usually a family affair, usually a time to just be. A time without deadlines, schedules and heavy lifting.

Some families went to Church and then after would venture to lunch or breakfast. It was considered by many to be a holy day and it was meant to be kept that way. No stores were open, no busy bustling crowds. Just peace and quiet and contentment.

In Troy's household, everything was quiet, but it was far from content. In fact, it was the exact opposite.

Sharpay had never been so mad in her entire afterlife. Human boys were unintelligent, she knew this. They tended to suck at relating to human girls unless they were over a hundred years old and of the vampire variation, but that meant they weren't humans anyways. So that didn't count.

Never in a million years, however, did she think she would ever come face to face with someone as stupid as Troy Bolton.

Honestly, she could not wrap her little blonde head around the argument she had heard from downstairs the night before. Could not believe the vicious words they had spit at each other, but more than anything, could not comprehend why Troy had said what he had said. It was so out and out mean, so completely wrong. It was as if he was not taking any responsibility for the situation what so ever. As if everything that had happened was completely and entirely Gabriella's fault, because she was stupid enough to be sexually harassed.

From her spot on the bed, she scoffed, glaring at him. He was so stupid, so thick and she knew he didn't really mean what he had said to Gabriella, but how dare he say it in the first place? How dare he even think it? How could he say that to someone who was supposed to be his best friend? She understood that he was worried about her, understood his blatant and obvious confusion when it came to his real feelings for Gabriella, but she did not and could not understand how he could treat _anyone_ like that.

So needless to say, when she stepped out into the hall the next morning and walked downstairs to find him watching The Sound of Music fore lonely, she had absolutely no sympathy for him.

If he was to blame anyone, he should blame her. After all, she was the one who had gotten out. Besides, she was angel! Shouldn't he be smart enough to maybe think there was a reason for her departure? That maybe given he angelic nature, she would come back on her own, and if she didn't, she wasn't meant to? But no, the boy went on a wild goose chase!

She was ready to throttle him and he deserved it. But quite frankly, it seemed like he was getting his own fair share of disappointments and stress today, and really, she was a lazy angel.

He stood in front of her, pacing the room with his phone pressed to his ear. He had been trying to get a hold of Gabriella all day. The hours had passed by so slowly as he called her repeatedly, alternating between her home and cell numbers, wishing, wishing that she'd answer.

He just wanted to apologize. Tell her he was sorry, that he never meant anything that he said, that Joshua Taylor was a fuckwad if he ever saw one and could they please just talk and try to fix things? Try to figure out where they went wrong?

Only he knew where they went wrong, knew the exact moment, the exact time in which everything had spiraled out of control. It had been when she had lifted her shirt, revealing her stomach and he kissed the bruise there. The strong urge he had had to take it all away and replace it with something else had overpowered him, and he had acted on it. Only now it had messed everything up.

He wouldn't lie to you, the night and morning he had spent with Gabriella had been wonderful. It hadn't just been the physical pleasure, while completely new and amazing to him, it had been something else. It had been this intense closeness he had felt to her, the feeling of completely _knowing_ her. Of understanding her again. Of doing something right for her, with her.

Yet in the long run, it had been the exact wrong thing. It had been the thing that was going to ruin them. Why hadn't he listened to his mind while it screamed in protested as he kissed her neck, her collarbone, her chest? Why hadn't it stopped his stupid, wandering hands? Why hadn't he listened?

He knew the answer. Gabriella was too much, too beautiful, too _everything_. He blamed it partially on hormones and partially on something else. The other something he wasn't sure if he could admit yet, or if it was real at all.

Fuck he was so confused.

He loved her, a huge part of him did. He just didn't know how much or in what way. Two days earlier, he'd swear it was a platonic love. Now he wasn't so sure. Especially after hearing her admit that she was in love with him. Everything that he had known had been thrown off balance.

But what he did know was that he needed her to answer her goddamn phone. He just needed to talk to her. Just for a few minute just to hear her voice. She couldn't be mad at him forever, she really needed to know that he was sorry. They had had fights in the past, he had said things he didn't mean and they were always able to move on from them. What made this time so different?

He knew he was being ridiculously naive. In fact, there were so many things that made this time different, that it kind of made his head spin.

"Come on, Gabriella," he sighed anxiously, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Pick up the phone."

It went straight to voicemail again and he groaned, deciding to leave probably the twelfth message in the last two hours.

"Brie, I know you're there and I know you're checking these. Your mailbox would be full and I wouldn't be able to leave messages if you weren't." He paused, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly.

"I'm sorry, Gabriella, I really, really am. For everything." He swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat as Sharpay watched him from the bed. "Please, you have to believe me. Just...just call me. Or come over. I don't care."

With that, he hung up and pressed the heel of his hands to his eyes. He had gotten no sleep last night, instead moped around and wished that he could take back the events of the previous twenty-four hours. He sat in the hallway singing to himself until he got so depressed that he decided to go watch that stupid movie and he found himself tearing up everytime the kids appeared on screen. Then Sharpay had woken up and berated him without any sound for at least a half an hour.

Then he started the calls.

Sharpay folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at him, her wings twitching in irritation. He rolled his eyes are her.

"Look, I know you're mad at me," he said firmly, "I'm mad at me, too. But quite frankly, I'm pretty pissed off at you. Don't you know when to stay put?"

She ignored him, sticking her nose in the air flippantly and tossing her hair over her shoulder. He shook his head and opened his phone. He had bigger fish to fry and if he was being honest, the thought of actually getting mad at an angel scared him. What if he got struck down by lightning or something?

"This is something I need to deal with on my own," he said to her, "something I need to figure out and I don't need you glaring at me everytime I turn around. I fucked up, I get that. Now let me fix it."

She shrugged and turned fully so her back was to him. Geez, what was her problem today? Narrowing his eyes, he picked up his phone and dialed Gabriella's cell number again.

He began to pace once more, waiting for the answering machine to pick up. However, on the fourth ring, he heard the line click and heard the soft sounds of crying.

She had answered.

"Gabriella!" he said quickly, "oh, Gabriella! Thank you for answering, don't hang up, I—"

"Stop calling me," came her voice, broken, angry and cold. "Please."

With that she ended the call and he stared at it in shock momentarily before closing the phone slowly. She really was angry. Really angry.

He didn't know what to do. He never knew what to do when it came to her, but right now, he really, really had no idea.

Three blocks over, Gabriella took her phone and pulled the battery out and tossed it across the room, before curling in a ball and crying into her pillow.

Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest, a day to start to your week fresh. For some it was considered holy.

For Troy and Gabriella, it was nothing but hell.

---

Troy waited anxiously in homeroom the next morning for Gabriella to arrive. Finally, she did, dressed in a pair of loose jeans and a sweatshirt. Her hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail and she wore no make up. Dark purple circles rimmed her puffy eyes and her complexion was pale. He frowned.

She slid into her seat beside him and immediately took out her biology textbook, not glancing at him. He felt his heart pick up speed.

"Hi," he whispered, hoping to God that she would just look at him. As it was, he had no such luck. She turned a page and continued to ignore him.

"Brie, please talk to me," he said again, "I'm sorry. I just...please, let's talk."

Still she said nothing and the bell went, signaling the start of homeroom. Ms. Darbus entered and she prattled on about morning announcements, yet the whole time, Troy focused on Gabriella.

She looked so tiny, so breakable. He was fairly certain that if he were to lean over, he could snap her wrist like a pencil. God, he had never wanted to make things better more than he did in this moment.

When homeroom ended, Gabriella scooped up her things and practically ran out of the room. Troy scrambled after her.

"Gabriella, wait," Troy pleaded, standing up and pushing his chair back abruptly. He flashed back to a couple of weeks earlier, when she had pranced into the classroom all dolled up and happy. He closed his eyes at the thought. He had hurt her even then, and he had chased after her even then, just to try to make things better.

As he started out the door and down the hall, however, a chuckle caught his attention. Leaning against the door was Josh Taylor, laughing and smirking like a fox in a chicken coop.

"Man, it was ridiculous, Brendan," he was saying to the brown haired boy who stood beside him. "Like honestly, it was the hottest thing ever."

Brendan raised his eye brows and Troy instinctively slowed down, leaning by the water fountain and pretending to read the bulletin board for information about the school musical.

"Really?" Brendan asked, "cause I wouldn't never think it would be like that in a million years. She seems kind of like a prude."

Josh laughed again. "She kind of is, this is true, but man, once she gets loosened up, she's like a goddess."

Brendan high fived him. "Damn man, lucky you. And on the first date, too?"

"Well, you know," Josh said slyly, "she was all over me in the car. Seriously, her hands were everywhere and goddamn, then she took off her shirt. But it's not like she likes wearing a lot of clothes anyways."

"That's true," Brendan said with a chuckle as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "She does show an awful lot of leg."

Running a hand through his hair, Josh smiled lewdly. "Those legs go on for miles man," he said, practically licking his lips, "and honestly, when they're wrapped around your waist. Fuck, it's so hot. She's so fucking hot, banging body she's got."

"So you going to ask her out again?" Brendan asked, his fingers typing over his keypad.

Josh shook his head. "Nah, man, no way," he said, "I mean, she put out on the first date. It was great and all, but I don't want no easy slut."

Brendan paused, looking up from his cell phone. "Dude, she's easy but I doubt she's a slut. She's still Montez."

"Nah, I'm telling you," Josh laughed, "Gabriella Montez is a slut. A freak in bed, but a slut. So I'm done with her."

But before he could say anything else, Troy had leapt forward, grabbed Josh by the collar and pinned him to the locker. Josh coughed violently, the wind knocked out of him and he lifted his hands defensively.

"Whoa, that the fuck?" Josh proclaimed, wrapping his hands around Troy's wrists to remove them. "What the fuck is your problem, man?"

"My problem," Troy said, forcing him into the lockers harder, "is you, running your mouth off. That's my best fucking friend you're talking about!"

Josh just smirked. "Oh, is that so, Bolton? What, you upset that I had her move underneath me before you did?"

"Fuck you!" Troy hissed, and Brendan watched on in confusion. A small crowd had gathered, students pausing to watch as the altercation took place. "You never slept with her!"

"And how would you know?" Josh said, squirming and glaring, "is that what she told you? Cause she lied."

Troy slammed him against the lockers once more. "Cause I saw the fucking bruises, you asshole! I saw them! You fucking hurt her because you wanted to get laid and she wouldn't let you! So fuck you, she's too good for you!"

"And you, too, apparently, "Josh said flippantly. "I mean, pretty sure she's not your girl Bolton."

He continued and Troy felt himself tense even further. "You're just jealous that she didn't want you, that she decided to go out with me and not you. And yeah, maybe I exaggerated a little bit, but I'm pretty sure you can agree with me that she's pretty banging. I mean, she's your best friend, you must have tapped that at some point. She's boring as hell, though, so that must be why you keep her around. That's all she's really good for."

Troy threw his fist back and slammed it into Josh's cheek then, a crack echoing through the hallway. The dark haired boy's head snapped back and he connected his own fist with Troy's eye. A scuffle broke out then, both boys grabbing and yanking at each other, punching and hitting, throwing the other to the ground.

He wanted to beat him to a pulp, he wanted this kid to take back every word he had said about Gabriella. How dare he talk about her like that, like she was some object?

Moments later, two teachers had yanked them apart and screamed at them to get to the principal's office. As Troy turned to leave, he caught sight of Gabriella standing there, her head bowed and her shoulders shaking.

If possible, he felt even worse.

---

As Troy stepped out of the school, he let out a heavy sigh. He had just escaped suspension. How, he had no idea, he had started a fight after all. However, he had a feeling that it had a lot to do with the fact that he was captain of the basketball team and therefore, no one wanted him suspended. They still wanted to win, still wanted the glory that came with a championship. It wasn't that they didn't want to kick him out, it was that they couldn't. They wouldn't.

Everyone was awful selfish now a days. He himself probably more than anyone.

Running a hand through his hair, he bounced down the steps, looking forward to going home, icing the shiner that was making it's presence known on his left eye and then sleeping for the rest of the day. He'd lock Sharpay up in a closet if it ensured that she wouldn't get out just so he could get some rest. Just so he could clear his mind.

But as he neared his truck in the parking lot, his heart skipped a beat and then clenched painfully. Gabriella was leaning against it, her arms folded over her books and her head down. Her long hair whipped in the wind and she lifted her head ever so slightly to tuck a strand behind her ear. She looked so goddamn beautiful in that moment, he felt like he would fall to his knees just to get her to look in his direction.

He didn't have to. She looked up at that moment and he felt responsible for how painfully pale her face was. He wanted to reach out and pull her to him, whisper that he was sorry and that everything was okay, and that he just wanted them to go back to the way they were.

But it was impossible. He had ruined everything.

His eyes met hers then and she looked away quickly, flushing hotly. He winced. He never noticed how she reacted around him. How could he not notice? Why hadn't he? It was so obvious, so blatant.

Her words rang through his head again. _I'm in love with you, I'm in love with you, I'm in love with you._

Why would she fall in love with someone like him? She deserved much better.

He walked closer to her, until they were standing in front of one another. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he managed to greet her.

"Hi," he said. She looked at him, but didn't really look.

"Hi," she said back.

He came and leaned against the truck beside her. He felt her shiver and felt a chill go up his own spine. What the fuck? What was that? His stomach felt sick and he suddenly really wanted to run in the other direction.

"What are you doing here?" he asked simply, scuffing the bottom of his shoe against the asphalt.

She shrugged. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh really?" he chuckled darkly, "because you won't return my phone calls."

"There's a reason for that," she said simply, propping herself off the side of the truck to come stand right in front of him. "I've made it a point never to speak to you again, Troy, but I figured we needed to clear the air before this goes into practice."

Her words were like venom and his heart broke at them. She never wanted to talk to him? Ever? Again? She was his best friend, he couldn't imagine his life without her. And now she never wanted to speak to him again? He knew he fucked up, knew she was mad, but he didn't think this was the end of them. The end of everything.

"Brie," his voice was strained as he spoke. "You can't mean that. You're my best friend."

She shook her head. "No. I'm not. Cause if I was, you never would have treated me like that. You never would have blamed me."

He felt desperation tug at him then. He needed to make this right. "I'm sorry," he pleaded, "I didn't mean it, you know that. I was worried and angry and the whole thing with Sharpay is scrambling my brain."

"I know that," she said, her own voice cracking, "but it doesn't change what you did. It doesn't fix it. You still said what you did, you still made it sound like I was such a foolish idiot for going out with Josh."

"I'm sorry!" he said once more, "you must know that! It was in the heat of the moment, I didn't mean it! Josh is a fucking idiot, you know I think that and...and Brie, I fought for you. I punched him."

Her eyes fell on the red and purple bruise that rimmed his eye. "I can see that," she said tightly, "and that was stupid. I never asked you to fight for me, I never asked you to punch him in the face and had things been different, had you tried something like that and I had known, I would have told you not to."

"Don't think just because you threw a couple of punches in my honor that you're suddenly my white knight, Troy," she spat, "it doesn't work like that."

He stiffened then, feeling angry and sad and sorry all at once. "Fine. What did you want to talk about? We might as well get this over with."

Rolling her eyes, she dropped her backpack to the ground and zipped it open. He watched as she crouched down and rummaged through her, her tiny hands carefully pulling out a large red book. He remembered how those hands had felt as they ran down his chest, how small they were when he held them. He could clasp both in one hand and the thought made him shiver. He missed her hands.

He missed her.

They hadn't spoken for one and a half days and he felt like a part of him was missing. God, he missed her so much and things were only going to get worse after this. Who was he going to call when there was nothing on TV? Who was he going to call when he had problems with Sharpay? Who was he going to celebrate holidays with when both of their parents were out of town? He had no one else, but even if he did, he had a feeling he wouldn't want anyone but her. She was Gabriella. She meant so much more.

Standing straight again, she extended her hands and held the book out to him. He stared down at it, confused. "What's this?"

"This," she said, swallowing, "is a book I have made of our friendship. Of our life. I started it in the third grade and have slowly been adding to it since. I want you to have it."

He took the book in his hands and ran his fingers over the cover, his heart pounding. "Why do you want me to have it?"

She bit her lip, closed her eyes and let out a big sigh. "Because it hurts for me to have it," she said simply, "it hurts for me to know that I spent all these years caring and that you threw them away in a matter of seconds. It hurts to know that I'll never get what I want and it hurts even more to know there's no way we're going to go back to what we were. So I want you to have it."

"Why?" he asked again. 

"Because," she said, looking him in the eye, "you caused me all that pain. I want you to be the one who has to hold onto the memory of what we were, because I'm done with it."

With that, she scooped up her bag off the ground and began to walk away. Troy stared down at it for a moment, before throwing it in the bed of his truck and racing after her. She picked up her pace, desperate to get away and he grabbed her arm, pulling her backwards.

"Brie, wait!" he cried, "you think this is fair? Shoving all the pain onto me?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, "I think it's perfectly fair! I was vulnerable, you slept with me and then you threw it in my face! I hope you have nothing but pain for as long as you live!"

She tried to yank her arm out of his grasp, but he only held on tighter. "I'm sorry, Gabriella!" he said, feeling tears prick his eyes. "I'm sorry about everything, all of it. You know I wish I could take it back."

He felt a lump form in his throat. "Gabriella, I can't do this without you. I need you. You're my best friend."

"And I'm in love with you," she said simply and he let her arm drop. "I love you with everything that I am, Troy. Before I could ignore it, but after what happened, after what we did...I can't."

"Gabriella, I punched a guy for you," he said desperately, "I nearly got suspended for you. Doesn't that say anything?" It wasn't love, but it had to count for something.

"No!" she all but shouted, "it doesn't! I think you're a fucking idiot for punching Josh today! You should know that he's not worth it!"

"But Brie," he shuddered, "the things he was saying about you..."

"It doesn't matter!" she yelled, "it was stupid of you, really, really stupid. I told you, it doesn't make it all go away."

"But—"

She cut him off. "Look, things are much more complicated than I think you understand, so let me spell it out for you," she said icily. "You've kissed me, Troy. You've held me, touched me...been...been_ inside _of me. It doesn't get much deeper than that. That, _that _sound count for something and the worst part of it all, is that it was probably the most meaningless thing in our entire friendship."

She ran both of her hands through her hair and trembled, letting a tear slip out of her eyes. "I'm done sitting and waiting for you, wishing that you'd love me when all you do is hurt me. We can't go back and further more, I don't want to."

"So you keep that book and I hope to god one day you find it and you remember me. I hope somewhere in you, you've forgiven yourself for this and everything else that you think you did that causes you to be like you are, and you can smile at the memories. Unfortunately, I never will."

With that, she spun on her heel and left and Troy stood there. Tears gathered in his eyes as she walked away and he saw her figure getting smaller and smaller. Bringing his wrist to his eyes, he brushed away the tears and looked down at the ground.

He glanced over at his truck and the sound of steel scraping against steel ran through his mind. Shuddering all over, he began to walk home in the same direction, knowing that it was impossible for him not to follow her, if only for the fact that she lived only three blocks away from him. A part of him knew he'd probably follow her anywhere, anyways.

He walked over and grabbed the scrapbook from the bed. Holding it tightly in his arms, he walked away from his truck, leaving it there for the night. He didn't care if it got stolen or vandalized or set to fire right now. He couldn't even look at it, couldn't even deal with the memories. Couldn't step foot into it knowing that it held the memory of the last time that they had all been together and things were right.

Gabriella was still his number one girl and Chad was still alive. Things were perfect then.

And so he walked on, walked home and wished desperately that he'd wake up to one week ago when things had been normal.

---

Kicking his shoes off, Troy walked into the living room and tossed the scrapbook on the floor beside him. He couldn't look at it; he doubted he'd ever be able to. He flopped onto the couch and brought his wrist over his eyes, sighing deeply.

This sucked, this beyond sucked. He had lost Gabriella, he had really, really lost Gabriella. What was he supposed to do now? Who was supposed to be his best friend?

He heard a rustling sound and then turned his head to see Sharpay fly into the room. She frowned at him, immediately sensing that things weren't cleared up between he and Gabriella.

"Hey, Sharpay," he said, "how was your day?"

The angel rolled her eyes and he sat up on the couch. "That's good," he responded distantly. "Want to know how mine was?"

Sitting down on the seat next to him, Sharpay furrowed her brows, taking in his hunched over posture and the sadness in his eyes. "I got in a fight with the fucker that hurt Gabriella, and then almost got suspended. Then Gabriella said she never wants to talk to me again."

Sharpay gasped. She had been expecting Gabriella to be mad, and truth be told, she had expected this, too. She didn't think their friendship could be instantly repaired, but she hadn't anticipated that Gabriella would flat out tell Troy she would never speak to him again. Trying to even remotely fix things was going to be ridiculously difficult.

"And it sucks, you know?" Troy mumbled. "She's been my best friend my entire life. I don't know what it's like without her. I don't want to know what it's like without her."

He let his head drop down to his hands and he gripped his hair in aggravation. "Why did I do what I did, Sharpay?" his voice sounded broken, tired. "Why did I...why did we take things so far? Why did I let her? Why I did? Why did I_ want_ to? God, it fucked everything up. And even worse, then you disappeared and I blamed her. It wasn't her fault. Fuck, I was so out of line."

Looking down at the ground, Sharpay felt suddenly guilty. If she hadn't left the house yesterday, none of this would have happened. Sure, they probably still would have fought because Troy was as dumb as dirt, but he wouldn't have blamed what happened with Josh on her.

But she had to go yesterday. She had no choice. No, she couldn't blame herself for something that was out of her control. This was Troy's doing, still. He had still hurt Gabriella.

"I just want her to know how sorry I am, you know?" he said sadly, "I just want to hug her and apologize and promise never to leave her. She's my best friend. She's this huge fucking part of my world; she's the only part that's consistent and real and...and I messed up."

Feeling a surge of pity, Sharpay slipped her arms around Troy and pulled him into a hug. He stiffened almost instantly, surprised at the contact. Awkwardly, he wrapped an arm around her as best as he could given her wings.

"Thanks, Sharpay," he said. "You're awesome."

She giggled and nuzzled her head against his cheek like a cat. He laughed back. Things didn't seem so bad when he was around Sharpay.

She pulled back and looked at him and he looked at her. God, Sharpay was pretty. And she was sent here for a reason. Maybe it was because whoever was out there knew that Gabriella and he would cease to be friends and that he would need someone. Maybe that someone was Sharpay.

"You're really great, Sharpay," he said with a smile. "I'm really glad you fell through my treehouse."

Sharpay shrugged like it was nothing and grinned. Troy brought his hand up and laced his fingers through her hair. She stiffened.

"No, really, I just..." he sighed, "I'm really lucky to have you right now. You're making everything a lot easier to deal with."

Sharpay looked at him, concerned. God,_ this boy was an idiot_. He better not be thinking about doing what she thought he was thinking about doing.

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You're really pretty, too, Sharpay," he murmured, leaning closer to her. "Thanks for just being there."

He inched closer and closer and Sharpay grew more panicked. Just as their lips were about to meet, however, Sharpay squeaked and pulled back, her eyes wide.

Troy's eyes grew wide, too, and his face flushed darkly. Oh, shit, he had almost tried to kiss an angel. Why did he try to kiss an angel, he didn't even like Sharpay like that? Fuck, what was with his hormones lately, they were seriously fucking up his life.

"Oh, shit, Sharpay!" he said, "I am so, so sorry."

Seriously, what the hell. It was like he had been drunk. God, these past few days were ruining his mind. Things were so messed up. He had slept with Gabriella, had the biggest fight with her ever, then lost her as a friend completely. Then he tried to kiss an angel.

What. The. Fuck?

Sharpay shook her head again and then flew over to the closet. She seemed in a rush, in a panic as if to show him something, explain something.

He glanced down at the box she presented him with. This was the random box of stuff he had kept that Gabriella had given him. The random notes and things. How had Sharpay found it? What was she doing when he left her at home alone for the day? God, she needed a hobby.

"Sharpay," he said, slightly annoyed as he watched her rummage through it, "where did you find this? What are you doing?"

He had expected the angel to strike him across the face, not be all crazy and go grab the box of stuff he had kept from Gabriella. Then again, he really should learn not to be surprised by anything Sharpay did anymore. After the weekend, nothing she did could be considered completely out of left field.

Finally, Sharpay stood up and in her hands she held two items. She waved them in Troy's face and he blinked, confused.

"Um, what are you doing?" he repeated, "seriously, is this your way of communicating?"

Rolling her eyes, she held up the item in her right hand. It was a red paper heart, the outside rimmed with white lace. It had been a Valentine's Day card Gabriella had given him in second grade. He smiled and took it from her.

"This? It's a Valentine's Day card Brie gave to me when we were little. It's a not a big deal," he said with a shrug, "we gave them to each other every year. She was always my Valentine."

This was true, even as they got older, they had still exchanged Valentine's cards. It made things easier than having a real Valentine; they always found themselves single at the holiday, so at least this way they got something. The holiday always made Gabriella feel kind of lonely and sort of depressed, so afterward they'd eat boxes of cheap chocolate and he'd let her pick the sappiest, stupidest romance he could find.

It was a stupid tradition, but he felt his heart tug at the memory, longing for the simplicity they had had then. How had things become so fucked up?

Sharpay shook her head and then threw her hands up, shoving another item into his hands. It was a picture of Gabriella, smiling sweetly at the camera and flashing a peace sign. She was wearing no make up and her hair was down and wavy. She was dressed in a pair of pajama bottoms and his Wildcat hoodie, sitting on a lawn chair in his backyard.

He remembered the night this had been taken; one of the many insomniac nights they had spent together just sitting and talking after the accident. It was hard to sleep in those early days. He sighed, staring at it.

"Sharpay, what's your point?" he asked, "why are you shoving all this stuff at me?"

Groaning in frustration, she pointed to herself, then at him. He nodded.

"You and me...you and me what?"

Sharpay rolled her eyes and pointed to herself and then him again, before stepping forward. She covered his mouth with her hand and he stilled. Then she tilted her head up and kissed the back of her hand. Pulling back, she shook her hand and waggled her fingers.

He furrowed his brows trying to comprehend what she was trying to say. "You and me don't...kiss?" he asked and she nodded, clapping her hands like a seal that he got it. "Uh, okay, yeah, I get that, what I just did was a mistake. Like I said, you don't kiss someone you're not in love with."

He paused then, his words knocking the wind out of him. That was his personal belief, that you didn't just kiss someone for the sake of kissing someone. So why had he kissed Gabriella?

Swallowing, he looked down at the picture in his hand and traced the outline of her face with a shaking finger. He glanced up at Sharpay with wide eyes. She pointed at Troy, then she pointed at the valentine in his hands and then at the picture of Gabriella. She took her two fingers and made a shape of a heart, before smiling slightly.

_Troy loves Gabriella_, she was trying to say. _"You love Gabriella."_

He froze, his heart pounding. It was like a bucket of water had been poured over his head, like an arrow had hit him through his heart. It all made sense now.

He had kissed Gabriella, had wanted to make her feel better because he loved her. He didn't love her like a sister or a friend, he loved her like a boy loves a girl. He was in love with her. He loved Gabriella.

"Holy, shit," he said, staggering back and leaning against the arm of the couch. "I'm in love with Gabriella."

He was in love with his best friend.

But this shouldn't be a problem. He should be okay with this, she loved him back.

Only now she wasn't speaking to him. She hated him, she had given up on him. Letting his head fall to his hands, he felt like crawling into a hole and dying. He was in love with her, god, how could he have not known? Now it was too late. He'd never be with her now.

"Sharpay," he said and the angel looked at him with wide eyes. "You knew, didn't you? You knew I was in love with Gabriella and that she was...she was in love with me."

She nodded, smiling sadly. She patted him on the shoulder comfortingly.

"Fuck," he murmured, "I wish you could speak English. Maybe then none of this would have happened."

It was a stupid hope, even if Sharpay could speak, she wouldn't have been able to have helped the situation just then. Troy needed this moment to realize the depth of his feelings. That the things he did for Gabriella weren't just because of a friendship. That enjoyed having her call him when she was scared, liked buying her her favourite soda and he had wanted to kiss her.

They had done everything so backwards. And now he had fucked up.

"I love Gabriella," he said simply, "I always have."

Damn.

---

I actually don't have anything to put in this space other than this chapter's track is MAGICAL and I feel the lyrics fit SO WELL. SO. GO.


	8. Dance

---

**The Cherubs**

Chapter Eight: _Dance_

---

This being in love thing was weird, as Troy was quickly finding out. It was like suddenly everything he did, he thought of Gabriella. He ate breakfast and wondered if it was the kind that Gabriella would like. He put on a shirt in the morning and wondered if Gabriella would think it would look good on him. He would see a girl on television and think of how much prettier Gabriella was.

He would pass her in the halls, and he would duck his head and blush. He'd hear her laugh echo across the classroom and his heart would pound. He'd see her smile and he'd feel a smile spread across his own face.

The worse part was how much this sucked because it didn't matter anymore. She wasn't even talking to him, wouldn't even _look_ at him. He was in love with Gabriella, but it was too little too late. What did it matter now that she had said she was finished with him? He was going to live with his unrequited love, which he found was way worse than the actual feelings of being in love.

Oh, how it pained him to see Gabriella and not be able to talk to her, hold her, laugh with her. At this point he'd be fine with friendship; even though before it was all he wanted and now he wanted so much more, he'd accept it. He just wanted to be back in her life, just wanted her back in his.

A week had passed since their argument in the parking lot and since then Sharpay had been (to the best of her ability) prodding him along to find the perfect moment to tell her his feelings. He had told her he thought it was completely useless, but she disagreed, insisting that he at least tell her. How was he to know that it wasn't exactly what needed to be done if he didn't try? It was the most logical step, after all, but Troy strongly disagreed. He still hadn't dared look at the scrapbook she had given him. It sat at the end of the stairs untouched, and he figured it might be like that forever. He was too painful to even see it sitting there; he couldn't never go through it's contents.

He was starting to think that Sharpay was a crap guardian angel. She as obsessed with Twilight and she snuck out and she couldn't help him worth shit. Weren't angels supposed to guide you in the right direction? Not feed you to the lions. Telling Gabriella he loved her wasn't going to help anything, at any rate, it would probably just make things even worse.

After one sleepless night spent tossing and turning, remembering his sixteenth birthday and the way Gabriella had kissed him on the cheek when she gave him his present, he sat in the kitchen, swirling his Lucky Charms in his bowl and feeling sorry for himself. Sharpay sat across from him, happily eating the cereal out of the box.

She noticed he was looking particularly glum and frowned at him. He glared back.

"What?" he asked dryly, "am I supposed to be jumping for joy? It's a Friday morning, and Gabriella hasn't spoken to me in a week. Sorry if I'm a little bit pessimistic and not full of sunshine and rainbows."

Sharpay rolled her eyes and drew a heart with her fingers. He scoffed.

"You seriously suck at this angel business if you think that's going to work," he said, annoyed, "she's not going to believe me."

She stared at him, offended, before taking the cereal box and turning it upside down; dumping the contents out on the counter. His jaw fell open as millions of pieces of cereal covered the surface and rolled off onto the floor. This was her way of getting revenge, by making a mess or breaking things, and he hated it.

Goddamn, if only she could speak English and just say 'Fuck you!' It would make things so much easier.

As she flew away and he grumbled and went to get the broom, the phone rang. Not glancing at the caller ID, he picked up the phone and answered it.

"What?" he barked and there was silence on the other end. "Look, if you're a telemarketer fuck off and take me off your lists. I'm a minor, you can't sell me shit."

"Troy!" He dropped the broom at the sound of his father's voice. "Is that anyway to talk to anyone, even if they _are_ a telemarketer?"

"Dad!" Troy yelped, sitting down on the barstool in the kitchen suddenly. He ran a hand through his hair. He hadn't spoken to either of his parents in a while, but his dad even longer. Why was he calling. "What's up?"

His father cleared his throat. "I received a phone call from Principal Matsui the other day," he said simply, "he told me you got into a fight at school."

Troy rolled his eyes. Oh. _That._ "No, dad, I _started_ a fight. There's a difference."

Jack Bolton groaned on the other line, miles away in LA. "Troy, you can't just be starting fights to solve problems. What happened? Was it sports related?"

Troy stiffened. "No, dad, it was personal. It doesn't matter."

"It does so matter, Troy!" his father insisted, "you can just be getting into fights! Do you know the amount of strings Matsui pulled to keep you at East High? You should have been suspended, Troy, and that was your last chance before they expelled you! Do you have any idea how lucky you are? You can't just go beating people up because they were running their mouths about your game, it's—"

"Dad, forget it!" Troy said frustrated, "it wasn't even about that, it was about Gabriella, so just forget it."

Jack was silent again. "You got in a fight with another boy about _Gabriella_?"

Troy bit his lip debating whether he should say anything or not. "Maybe."

"Gabriella-Gabriella? Your best friend Gabriella? Why would you get in a fight about her?"

"Cause the guy I punched when on a date with her and he was an asshole, dad," he said plainly, "trust me, if you were here, you would have wanted to punch him, too."

Given how he had behaved, he probably would have wanted to punch Troy even more, despite the fact that he was his own son.

Jack couldn't help but laugh, knowing this was probably true. "Even so, that doesn't excuse what you did, Troy. What did Gabriella say?"

Troy was quiet for a moment. "I don't really know. She and I got in a fight. We're not speaking." We may never speak again, he thought, but didn't add.

Now Jack was really concerned. Hearing that his son was fighting was one thing, but hearing that he wasn't speaking to his best friend was another. "What? Troy, why not?"

"Just...just some stuff happened," Troy said quickly. "I don't want to talk about it."

There was another long pause and Troy considered hanging up on him. Jack sighed heavily. "Should we come home for the weekend, Troy?"

Scoffing, Troy ran a hand through his hair again, picking up the broom again. "So is that how it is, dad? I fuck up and suddenly you think you should maybe come home? It has nothing to do with, I don't know, wanting to spend time with your dear old son?"

"Troy," Jack said firmly, "you know how tight these obligations are. We can't just come home for any old thing."

"Yeah, but dad, you guys don't come home for anything," Troy spat, "so excuse me if I'm more than a little skeptical and cynical about you. I have to go. I have school, you know how tight these obligations are."

With that he hung up and slammed his phone down on the counter. He went back to quickly cleaning up the cereal, grabbed his backpack and bid Sharpay a farewell.

From her spot on the living room couch, she looked up from where she was painting each toe nail a different colour. She rolled her eyes and flicked turned back to the copy of Breakfast at Tiffany's that she was watching.

She needed to continue to do this romantic gesture research stuff. At this rate, Troy was going to need it.

Several hours later, however, Troy came bursting in the door with a wide smile on his face. Apparently, he had completely forgotten because he didn't _do_ these kind of things, but there was a school dance tonight and he had overheard Kelsi Nielson telling Martha Cox that Gabriella was going with him and this, this was going to be his chance to tell her how he felt.

How the boy had done a total one-eighty in the span of six hours, Sharpay had no idea, but as she had said, human boys. They didn't make sense. So for the rest of the afternoon, she helped him pick out an outfit to wear and hoped to god that he would at least not fuck this up even more than he already had.

She had a back up plan for this, hence the research, but she was hoping that maybe he'd be able to fix some things on his own.

It was unlikely, she knew, but she was an angel. She had to have some kind of hope.

---

The gym was decorated elaborately with fancy lights and balloons and streamers. Troy hated it. There was lame music playing and cheap refreshments and teachers were at every corner. It was the epitome of a cliched high school dance and he wanted out. He wanted out now.

Troy fidgeted uncomfortably in his suit jacket and pants. He did not do formal functions, he hated formal functions. Oh, screw Sharpay, this was all too stressful. This was all too much. He just wanted to be at home eating Lucky Charms and counting the ceiling tiles over this.

Shoving his hands in his pocket, he debated briefly leaving. What good was this going to do anyways? The chances of Gabriella suddenly falling in his arms were slim to none: he had lost her. Yet Sharpay had been insistent that Troy go to the dance tonight, and so he had. He really, really hated it, but he went.

No one had seen him yet, he could totally just sneak out now. Tell Sharpay that Gabriella wasn't there. After all, she had given up on him. Didn't he owe it to her and himself to do the same?

Then he saw her.

She was sitting on the bleachers next to Taylor Mckessie, her lap partner and she was smiling and laughing. Her long dark hair was twisted into a knot at the back of her head, loose curls falling and framing her face. She was wearing a dark purple dress that hit mid thigh, with a high collar and ruffles down the front. The skirt was pleated and flared out, and on her legs were shiny purple pumps. She threw her head back and laughed at something Taylor set and Troy felt his heart burst.

He couldn't leave.

She was beautiful and in that moment, he knew exactly why he loved her. He knew every reason, every moment that had made him fall in love. She was happy and she was tiny and she was gorgeous and she was his best friend. She knew him inside and out. No matter what he did, no matter whom he me or how well they grew to know him, they could never know him like Gabriella did.

How could he even think about leaving? How could he even consider letting her go, completely watch her fall through his fingers? She was...she was his world. Everything he did revolved around her. How had he not noticed sooner? How had he been so fucking blind?

Swallowing, he mustered up the courage from deep within him and walked across the gym towards her. He squeezed past dancing couples, arguing girls and semi-drunk jocks. People pulled him every which way, females asking for dances, males asking if he wanted to go smoke in the boy's bathroom. He ignored them. All he saw was her.

All he wanted was her.

When he finally arrived in front of her, he found that he was nearly breathless. It wasn't because he had moved so swiftly, not entirely, at least. He just felt lightweight, out of breath in front of her. God, she was so, so beautiful.

Naturally, when he came to a stop in front of her, she ignored him. He frowned, although he anticipated her reaction. Taylor Mckessie eyed him curiously out of the corner of her eye, but said nothing and Gabriella continued prattling on as if she didn't see him.

He knew she did. He saw the way she stiffened as he approached, the way the tiny hairs on her arms stood on end. She was every bit aware of his presence as he was of hers.

He cleared his throat then and Taylor looked at him, happy to have an excuse to finally address him. Taylor was easily the smartest girl in the grade, and this made her easily bored, so she gossiped like an old house wife. No doubt she wanted to know exactly what was going on with Troy and Gabriella so she could proceed to tell the entire grade.

"Hi," she said with a smile, "what's up Troy?"

Troy managed a weak smile in response. "Um, not much. How's it going Taylor?"

She grinned, excited at the way Gabriella was stubbornly refusing to look at him. "I'm doing great!"

"That's awesome," Troy offered, though he could care less. "Hi, Gabriella."

When she didn't respond, Taylor nudged her harshly in the side with her elbow and Gabriella glared at her. "Go away, Troy,'" she mumbled and for a split second Troy wanted to snap at her to stop feeding into Taylor's excitement, but he refrained.

"Do you think we could talk?" he asked cautiously, his throat dry. Please say yes, he thought, please by some stretch of the imagination...say yes.

"No," she said without hesitating, "I've made it perfectly clear that we are not talking."

Suddenly, Taylor blanched and stood abruptly. "Um, you know what? I'm going to leave you two alone," she said tactfully, grabbing her clutch purse and stepping down the bleachers. Gabriella frowned.

"Taylor, stay," she said with a pointed look, "Troy can leave, he's the one who interrupted us."

The dark haired girl shook her head and Troy mentally rolled his eyes. She was off to spread her gossip; she had gotten the smallest snippet that she could use to tell people that there was in fact a story going on between them, but not enough to be considered rude or that she was doing any wrong. Typical.

"No," she said, stepping back onto the floor, "I'll go. You guys stay. Talk."

With that she ran off, Blackberry in hand, and Troy and Gabriella were left alone. She ignored his gaze once more.

"What are you doing here, Troy?" she asked, sounding aggravated, "I don't want to talk to you anymore, you know this. I'm done with you. Are you just here to ruin my night?"

Her words cut him a little deeper than he had expected. Everything she said had a much harsher aftertaste than they had before now that he knew he loved her. It hurt more, stung more, slipped underneath his skin just a tiny bit more. He cringed and ran a hand through his hair.

"What?" he said and her eyes snapped up to his then, hearing the pain in his voice, "no, Gabriella, I came because...I don't know, I know you like these things, so..."

She laughed bitterly. "So what, you thought you could just waltz up here and ask me to talk and we'd make off like happily ever after and be friends again because you did one nice gesture for me in the last forever? Nice try, Troy."

As she stood to leave, Troy felt himself inwardly panic. No, don't go! he thought, I can't let you go. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her backwards. She glanced at him warily and he sighed.

"So you won't talk to me," he summarized, "but would you...um, could...can I...do you—?"

"What, Troy?" she snapped and he dropped her wrist, surprised at her tone. "What are you trying to say?"

"Will you dance with me?" he blurted out and he saw the shock register on her face. She hadn't been expecting that. "You don't even have to talk to me, just...just one dance. Then I'll leave, let you get back to...to your friends."

She stared up at him with wide eyes and he swallowed the lump forming in his throat, excepting her to scoff and walk in the other direction. However, instead she shrugged and nodded. "Fine, just one dance. Then you leave."

Wait, she said yes? He wasn't expecting this, what now? He didn't know how to dance, he didn't dance with girls?! Oh, fantastic, this was going to turn out great. As luck would have it, the upbeat tempo that was playing suddenly turned softer, slower, and the two watched as people around them began to couple up. Gabriella cocked her eyebrow.

"Still want to dance with me?" she asked, "or will your run away and say that it was a mistake after, too?"

He tried not to glare at her. He knew she was angry, but geez, he was trying! Defiantly, he wrapped his hands around her waist and drew her against him, leaning over and whispering in her ear.

"Most definitely."

She flushed so hotly then he felt the heat increase through the thin material of her dress, saw the red appear on the tips of her ears. "Oh," she all but squeaked, "okay then."

Hesitantly, as if she were afraid he would burn or strike her, she lifted her hands and looped them behind his neck, and he drew her even closer. Despite his two left feet, they swayed gently to the music.

They moved awkwardly, yet he had never felt so comfortable. She fit perfectly in his arms, like she was meant to be there, and he reveled in how close she was, how he could smell her scent. She always smelled so good.

"This is weird," she mumbled, bouncing on her toes anxiously.

He nodded. "Maybe a little. It's not too bad, though, is it?"

She shrugged. "It's not horrible, but I wouldn't say it was bad."

To him, this was a victory. Not only had she started the conversation, but she had almost said it wasn't a bad thing to be dancing with him! This was progress, things could only get easier from here, right?

"H-how have you been?" he asked cautiously. Being this close to her and being so unable to touch her, to really talk to her was killing him. He hated it, he just wanted to fall into the same happy bantering conversations they would have or kiss her full on the lips. Either one and he'd be more than happy with the night.

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and he felt his heart pound even more at the sight. "Better than I've been in a while," she said, and he couldn't tell if she was being truthful or not. "It's been easier to...to breathe, lately, if you know what I'm saying."

He didn't. Troy was suffocating without her. He felt like had lost a limb or a lung or...or his other half or something ridiculously cliche and lame. But it was true, it was so, so true.

"Um, that's good..." he trailed off and looked down.

Gabriella ducked her head down. "You look good, Troy," she whispered and he felt his heart flutter. Flutter like he was some chick. He couldn't help it, her words were overpowering.

Suddenly he couldn't help himself, the words were overflowing like a cup filled to the brim. He needed to talk to her, needed to tell her how he felt. He needed her to know how much she meant to him, how much he knew that he fucked up.

"I've missed you, Brie," he said quietly, "a lot."

She closed her eyes and tensed. "Troy, don't do this. You don't miss me, you just miss having someone around."

He bit his lip, feeling his heart pound. "No, Gabriella, that's not true. I miss _you_. I miss you so much and I just want to go back to the way things were."

"Why?" she inquired, looking up a him with a hard gaze. "You just don't want to be alone, Troy. You can live without me, I know you think you can't, but you can."

"It's not that, Gabriella!" he said, his tone harsh, "how can you not think that I wouldn't miss you? That you wouldn't mean something to me after all of these years? God, you've been my best friend practically my entire life—"

"I've told you, Troy," she said quietly, "you want to be best friends and I'm in love with you. It's not that simple."

His hands tightened on her waist then. "But Gabriella, what if I...what if I didn't just want to be friends anymore?"

It was out in the open now and he felt Gabriella freeze. She stilled her movement and up at him with huge, scared eyes. "W-what?"

"I—" he swallowed, feeling so flushed and lightheaded that he was worried that he might pass out. "I just...I've been doing some thinking."

She stared at him. "Thinking?"

He nodded, and then shook his head. "Well, no, not really, but I...I realized something."

He cupped her cheek in his hand and on instinct, she leaned into his touch. He stroked his thumb over her soft skin and her eyes fluttered shut. He sighed.

"You're beautiful, Gabriella," he said and he heard her breath hitch, "and I should have told you before. I should have been more aware instead of...instead of sleepwalking through this entire year and I just...everything that's happened has made me realize something I've kind of known all along."

"I know this is sudden," he babbled, "and I know that it doesn't make sense and it sounds stupid but, I—"

She placed her hand over his and squeezed it suddenly. "What?"

He looked down into her eyes, feeling like a walking cliche, but he shrugged the feeling off. This was so damn hard, how did people do this? How did Romeo and Edward Cullen and Jack Dawson; how did they just spout out flowery romantic words and manage to say exactly what they were feeling? How could they articulate it so well?

His words weren't going to work. So instead, he decided to show her.

Bending down quickly, he pressed his lips to hers. God, it felt good to kiss her; he had only been imaging it since he had first done it two weeks earlier. He brought her bottom lip between his and pulled gently, kissing her sweetly, lovingly. She responded once and then he broke away, giving her a moment to digest what had just happened.

She brought a hand up to her mouth and her eyes were wide. "Troy," she said seriously, "what?"

Here goes, he thought. "I...I love you, Gabriella," he whispered. "I've loved you for so long that I don't even remember a time when I didn't. I just never realized, never noticed, was too afraid that—"

"No," she cut him off and he paused.

"W-what?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly. He started to feel things unravel then and he wanted to grasp on to them desperately, get some sort of a grip on what was happening. "Gabriella—"

"No, Troy," she said and her eyes were angry then, clouded with tears. "No, you don't get to do this."

He brought his other hand to the other side of her face and held it within his hands. "What, Gabriella, do what?"

'This!" she exclaimed, yanking his hands off of her. "No, you don't get to do this. You don't get to tell me you love me and suddenly everything will be all better. You don't get to show up at this dance and act like you're making some huge romantic gesture just because you know I like them!"

She swiped at the tears that were falling down her cheeks. "God, what the hell is this? I'm crying at a fucking high school dance. Is this an episode of Degrassi?"

He reached out to her, the tears on her face killing him. "Don't cry, Brie."

"Don't call me that!" she hissed. "God, I am so goddamn sick of crying over you, Troy! I'm so sick of you jerking me around, pulling me in every single direction. I'm sick of fighting with you, I'm sick of being angry with you, I'm sick of this."

She smoothed out the skirt of her dress and let out a deep breath. "I'm sick of you, Troy," she said finally. "I can't do this anymore. I wasn't exaggerating when I said that."

"But Gabriella," he pleaded once more, "why aren't you listening? I love you. I'm in love with you."

"Why didn't you listen, Troy?" she demanded, "when you kissed me, why didn't you think about what it meant? When we slept together, why didn't you stop? Why didn't you open your goddamn eyes in the last three years and see what it all meant?"

"Why do you get to tell me you love me and suddenly it makes all the difference?" she swallowed, "what makes your affection so much stronger than mine? Is it just supposed to make everything all of a sudden better?"

He could feel her getting angrier and wished that she would calm down, that he could think of something to get her to calm down. But as it was with everything he did with Gabriella in the last year, he had no idea how to go about it. So instead he merely said nothing.

"And as a matter of fact, how do I know you're not lying?" she asked, "how do I know you're not just saying this because you wanna be friends again? You'll romance me for a few weeks, get laid a few times and then dump me because you want to go back to being friends because it's all you wanted all along. How do I know you won't do that?"

He glared at her. "I would never do that to you, Gabriella."

"Well, you did!" she snapped, "you did, Troy. You slept with me and then the next day, you tried to shove me out of your life. So fuck you, stop bothering me for Christ's sake and move the fuck on."

She turned on her heel to leave before glaring at him once more. "And you know what, Troy?" she said and her voice was once again like venom. "You blame yourself for what happened last year. I see it in your eyes everyday. Stop, because you are never going to be happy and you will never love anyone fully until you accept that."

With that she turned to leave and Troy was once again standing alone. She had once again walked away and he was once again left with nothing. This was the third fight they had had since that night and he could feel his shoulders slump.

She kept saying she couldn't do this anymore. But how could he let her go? He couldn't. Pulling his jacket off, he tossed it over his shoulder and smoothed out his t-shirt before walking out of the gym.

He loved that girl with all of his heart and he would be damned if he wasn't able to tell her. He would be able to tell her.

---

"_We're gonna rule the school this year, the three of us," Chad said fondly._

"_Hey, what if I decide to go and branch out this year?" Gabriella asked coyly, "you know get some female friends of my own?"_

"_Ha ha, as if, Gabs," Chad said as the light turned green and Troy began to cross the intersection. "we're gonna be friends for life, till the day we die, till—"_

_His sentence was cut off as the black van ran through the red light and collided with his side of the truck and Gabriella screamed. Then the car skidded across the road before coming to a halt in the middle of the intersection._

_Barely conscious, Troy lifted his head from the airbag and saw a stream of red across his eyes. Oh what the fuck. What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck. He heard Gabriella sobbing hysterically in the backseat of the car and he shifted as best as he could, his right arm protesting in pain as he did so._

"_Brie," he croaked, feeling lightheaded. She was crumpled in the backseat, tears streaming down her face and her arm was bleeding profusely, a large scrape covering her forehead. He winced at the sight of the red liquid. _

"_T-troy," she cried, "oh god, oh god, oh god. C-chad."_

_He turned then and saw Chad slumped over in the passenger seat, a violent red gash on his forehead and Troy passed out just as Gabriella let out another scream._

_Three days later, Troy and Gabriella found themselves in the emergency room at the hospital, both of their arms in a slings and bandages on their foreheads. Their parents stood around them, crying and yelling, arguing with each other about how this had happened, what happened and mostly taking out the fear that they had felt upon receiving the phone call that their children had been in an accident out on each other._

_Troy had gotten out nearly scott free. He had a broken arm and a cut above his eyebrow, some bruise and a couple more scrapes, but other than that, he was fine. Gabriella had suffered slightly more, her arm also broken, but the bone had pierced the flesh, causing her to get several stitches. She also had a mild concussion and her back had scraped against the metal of Troy's car door as they had pulled her out. They sat in waiting room, Gabriella's head resting against Troy's shoulder as the awaited the news of their third member of the group._

_Chad had been on the side that was hit head on and had sustained a serious head injury, causing heavy internal bleeding. He had been drifting in and out of conscious the last three days and was set to go in for some reconstructive surgery that afternoon. Troy didn't know all of the medical details, and Gabriella and her years of high school biology strained to understand it. All they knew was that there was a chance that Chad wouldn't make this out alive and the very thought killed them. _

_Their trio would be a twosome, and although in many instances, they had been a duo on their own, Chad still balanced them out. They couldn't imagine life without him, without he and his stupid basketball and his stupid partying ways._

_Gabriella sniffled slightly and Troy wrapped his good arm around her, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. "It's going to be okay, Gabriella," he whispered, kissing her temple. "It'll be alright, I promise."_

_She shook her head. "But what if it's not," she asked. She had cried more in the last three days than she had in her entire life. "What if it's not okay? Troy, I don't know what to do..."_

_He held her to him more tightly, watching his mother, Maria Montez and Chad's mother pace back and forth, bickering slightly. The stress of the last few days was getting to all of them. _

"_He'll be alright, Brie," Troy promised, "he's Chad, after all. He wouldn't leave us, he couldn't. It'll be fine, it's a fighter."_

_Deep down inside, Troy wasn't nearly as confident as he was pretending to be. He couldn't imagine what his life was going to be like without Chad, and quite frankly, if Chad didn't make it through this, Troy wasn't sure he could live with himself. He had been driving, sure, a drunk driver had hit them, but he was still in the driver's seat. He was still responsible._

_If Chad died, it would be his fault._

_He needed Chad to live. Chad was his best friend, he couldn't live with the knowledge that he had killed him. He just couldn't. _

_His parents and Gabriella's mother had flown in upon receiving the news and Troy couldn't help but feel terrible that it was under such awful circumstances that they were reunited, that he saw his parents for the first time in weeks because he fucked up. Oh, this was so entirely fucked up. He buried his face in Gabriella's hair, hoping for some comfort, and as if sensing that he needed someone, she reached over and grasped his hand, squeezing gently._

_Hours passed and the families stood waiting for the results of the surgery. Eventually, the doctor in his white coat came out, a grim look on his face and it was with his deepest regrets that he told them that Chad had started bleeding during surgery and that they were unable to stop it. That he had died._

_As Gabriella broke against him, gasping and crying in sobs and heaves like had never heard before, Troy paled instantly and said goodbye to a part of himself._

_He had killed his best friend. He was responsible._

_Gabriella wrapped her arms around his neck and cried harder and he held her, hoping that he could be strong enough for the both of them in that moment, but knowing that things would never be the same after this._

Troy woke up in the middle of the night, drenched in a cold sweat and shuddering. The dreams were back at full force. No matter how many times he forced his eyes closed and fell asleep, he'd still see the images, still hear the voices. He'd still see Chad's mother fall to her knees, still see Maria and his mother embracing in pain. Still would see the puddle of coffee that covered the floor when his and Chad's father returned form a coffee run and dropped the cups on the ground upon hearing the knees. Still would remember how hot Gabriella's tears had felt against his neck.

He sat up in bed and brought his hands to his face and cried. It felt good to cry, to let out the pain that he had been feeling. Feeling the loss of Chad and now Gabriella and hearing the empty echos of the house. Across the room, Sharpay was tucked up like a cat again, breathing slowly, and he found even this image could not take away the pain.

Just when he felt like it was getting too much, that he couldn't take anymore, he heard his cell phone buzz. Confused, he reached over and picked it up, flipping it open and seeing he had a new text message.

"_Are you okay?_" the message read and his heart fell over itself when he saw it was Gabriella.

Gabriella. The connection was still there, she still...it was like nothing had changed. He felt his throat constrict at the sight of her message and more tears slipped down his cheeks.

He typed a quick response, telling her it was no big deal and to go back to sleep. He expected to get nothing in return, but felt his phone vibrate once more.

"_Want to meet up?_" she had asked, "_it's a rough night for me, too._"

"_I thought you hated me_," he typed back.

"_Troy...meet or no?_"

"_Yes. Where_?" he answered. He glanced at Sharpay, but didn't think to wake her. He'd be back before sunrise and quite frankly, he had a feeling she knew better than to run off again.

"_Cemetery,_" was the response and he felt a chill run up his spine. "I think we have some things we need to deal with."

He shivered as he dressed quickly, sending her another quick message that he would be right there. She was right.

It was time to take a deep breath, deal with their past and then take a step forward. If he wasn't so scared about what this meant, he would be thrilled at the prospect that she still cared.

The sentiment wasn't lost on him, but between the nerves and the fear of what would happen next, he didn't pay much attention to it.

Pulling a hoodie over his head, he zipped it up and opened the French doors that lead outside before making his way to the front of the house and starting down the street to the cemetery.

---

Yo, I am so pleased with myself! I updated on Sunday, promised myself I'd get the Anastasia fic out yesterday and an update out tonight and I did! :D YAY ME!

Next update will be this weekend, hopefully, if I'm not dead from store inventory. Hence why I updated so quickly.

I am a little obsessed with this chapter's track, so you know~ Go download.


	9. Basketball

_---_

**The Cherubs**

Chapter Nine: _Basketball_

---

_His suit was stiff, his head was pounding and his arm was killing him. Carefully, he ascended the stairs to Gabriella's bedroom, his heart heavy and his eyes sore from crying. He had been loathing today, had been dreading it. He wanted nothing more than to just go to sleep and pretend that it never happened, and when he woke up, everything would be the same again._

_Arriving at Gabriella's bedroom, he walked in and saw her sitting at her vanity. Her hair was carefully curled as she stared at her reflection blankly, moving a make up brush over her cheek. The black dress she was wearing, long sleeved with a ruffled skirt, stood out against her pale skin and the dark purple circles under her eyes popped. She looked like she hadn't slept in days._

_She probably hadn't slept in days._

"_Hi," he said softly, stepping into her room. She glanced at him in the reflection of the mirror._

"_Hi," she croaked, her voice harsh and quiet. He came and sat down on her bed and she turned in her chair. _

"_You look pretty," he whispered and she felt her eyes fill with tears._

_She scoffed. "I look like shit. Don't lie," she pinched her cheek roughly. "I'm trying to get some sort of colour in my face. It's not working."_

"_Hey, don't do that," he said, watching as she dug her nails into her cheek. "Don't hurt yourself to make yourself...look better. You look fine."_

_Gabriella shook her head. "No, I don't, but thank you," she let a tear slip down her cheek. "I just...it hurts so much, Troy. I need...there has to be something to take it away."_

_Troy ducked his head down and squeezed his fists, wishing silently that this wasn't happening. He opened his arms as best as he could with his broken arm and gestured for her to come forward. "Come here."_

_She stepped off the vanity stool and sat next to him on the bed. He wrapped his arm around her and they shifted up the bed until they were lying down at the headboard, facing each other. He held her close and together they cried._

"_I miss him so much, Troy," her voice was so quiet and sad. "I can't believe he's really gone."_

_He rubbed her back comfortingly, tucking her head underneath his chin. "I know. I miss him, too."_

"_I just keep replying it in my head," she murmured, "I keep imagining that things didn't happen. That this is all just a bad dream."_

"_It feels like it," he said, careful to mind their broken arms. They were quite the pair. "I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and that this is just the side affect from a really bad hangover."_

_Gabriella sniffled. "I don't want to go today," she admitted, "I don't want to have to see his parents. It's not fair that we're alive and that he isn't."_

_Troy stiffened. It wasn't fair. Why had he and Gabriella lived and Chad had died? It wasn't fair, it didn't make sense. Chad was the best person he had ever known, next to Gabriella, of course. If anyone should have died, it should have been Troy._

"_I don't want to go either, Brie," he confessed, his throat tight. "I don't want to have to watch them bury him."_

_She shuddered against him and sobbed. "Promise me we'll stick together, Troy?" she asked, "promise?"_

"_Of course, Gabriella," he said back to her. "I'll be there the whole time. I can't do this without you."_

"_Not just tonight," she whimpered, "but please, don't leave like he left. Please stay with me."_

_He crushed her against him then, his broken arm feeling the brunt of the embrace, but he didn't care. "You're all I have, Gabriella," he whispered against her hair. "I'm not going anywhere."_

"_Me neither, Troy," she promised, "me neithe_r."

---

The walk to the cemetery had been eerie, to say the least. Everywhere he had looked, there was an odd feeling to the air, as if he wasn't entirely alone. He kept glancing over his shoulder, making sure there were no creepy men with an eye patch and a kitchen knife following him, or no gangsters in a souped up Oldsmobile.

He arrived at the cemetery with both arms and legs, thankfully, and no bloody knife wounds. His stomach was turning over itself, the prospect of seeing Gabriella and at a place that was so...so important in so many ways, making him feel like he wanted to throw up.

He had been so surprised when she had texted him, so elated that the connection they had shared was still there. That despite everything that had happened, she still cared enough that when she got that weird ass, psychic like feeling, that she had wanted to know if he was okay.

Walking over to Chad's grave, he leaned against the tree nearby and sighed. "Hey, buddy," he said casually, "it's been a while, I know. Things have been all sorts of crazy, I can't even begin to explain it."

He ran a hand through his hair and let out a shaky breath. "Sorry, I didn't bring the newspaper clippings with me today," he apologized, "it was kind of last minute. Gabriella...she wants to meet here."

"I..." he trailed off, swallowing the lump in his throat, "I'm in love with her and you knew that all along, didn't you? That's why you asked me to go get her when we picked her up that night, so I could see her all dolled up and maybe get a clue. I was so hopeless."

He sighed, remembering the way she had looked that night, at the dance, in his sweater, with that stupid green goo on her face. "I can't help but wonder if you were still around being our middle man, if perhaps things would be different. If maybe...maybe I would have opened my eyes a lot sooner. I like to think that, but what do I really know?"

Drumming his fingers against the bark, his shook his head slightly, ridding himself of the unhappy thoughts. He needed to calm down, feel more confident about this seeing Gabriella thing right now, because he totally felt like he was going to throw up.

"Are you even reading those clippings I leave you?" he asked jokingly, "cause you know, it costs me three dollars to get them laminated every single week. I'm basically broke because of you." He smiled. "Still, they don't compare to watching the games together, I guess, or even playing together. Man, I still need to get a rematch against you for like, seven hundred one on one games."

"_Hoops! Catch!_" Suddenly, out of no where, a round orange basketball came soaring over Chad's tombstone and smacked Troy in the middle of the chest, knocking the air out of him briefly. His heart began to race and he paled instantly, bending down and scooping the ball in his shaking hands.

_What...?_

"Oh dude, that was weak, so, so weak," a laughing voice said. "Your game has gotten so much worse without me."

Troy squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the basketball in his hands. This wasn't happening. Was this happening? Oh god, it wasn't happening. He opened his eyes and upon seeing who was standing in front of him, he felt the ground drop from beneath his feet and he fell to his knees.

It was Chad.

"Yo, you okay, Troy?" Chad asked, "you look like you've just seen a ghost."

"C-chad?" he spat, "you...you _are_ a ghost!"

Chad rolled his eyes. "No man, I am a _spirit_, there is a definite difference."

He looked exactly as he did the day Troy had last seen him. He was wearing a bright yellow t-shirt, ripped jeans and green Converse sneakers, his afro bouncy and curly. There was not a speck of blood on him, yet he had a slight glow to him, as if gold were surrounding him.

"Holy shit," Troy breathed, "you're here. Holy shit."

Troy really should have been more surprised. He should have been freaking out, panicking, considering Chad, his best friend who had died a year ago, was standing in front of him. Instead, he found he was relaxed and was more concerned about how his friend got there than his actual being here.

After Sharpay, he had pretty much seen it all.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a surprisingly steady voice. He still did not get off the ground and Chad came and sat down on the grassy patch beside him. "I thought Gabriella texted me."

"Nah, that was me," Chad explained, "using my spiritual powers and what not, you know?"

Troy nodded. "What, are you an angel, too? Where are your wings?"

Chad shook his head. "Nope, I'm not an angel, I told you, I'm a spirit. Angels are the old-timers, have been around twenty-plus years and spent a lot of their spiritual years helping others and shit like that, mostly because they lived a pretty shitty life and want to make up for it in the afterlife, or whatever. Angels are the ones that get sent down here to help. Spirits can do whatever they want."

"So you can haunt people?" Troy asked casually, amazed at the conversation he was having with his dead friend. Chad laughed.

"No, those are ghosts. They're just bad eggs or real depressed and haven't accepted that they've died yet," Chad said patiently, "I just get to play basketball and stuff. It's awesome. Zero responsibilities."

Chad looked down and Troy immediately felt guilty. Despite the genuine enthusiasm Chad was displaying at having nothing of real importance to do, Troy could still tell there was a little bit of loneliness there, a little bit of wishing that they were having a different conversation somewhere else instead of at his grave.

"Chad," he whispered, "I'm so sorry."

His friend blinked. "Uh, why?"

"Because," he avoided Chad's gaze, "It's because of me you're dead."

Chad sighed heavily. "No, it isn't, Troy," he said firmly, "and that is why I'm here."

"What?"

Shifting slightly so he could face them, Chad took the basketball from Troy's hands and held it in his lap. "So there's this angel, okay?" Chad began, "blonde chick, kind of obnoxious, but really well meaning. She and I are friends, you would say, when I don't want to bash her head in."

"So I'm watching you and Gabs run circles around each other here down on earth, avoiding what you really feel and acting like complete jerks to each other and since I know you guys better than you know yourselves, I realize that it's not just because you're afraid of hurting each other, but that you're afraid of losing each other. Losing each other like you lost me."

Troy didn't say anything, biting his lip, and Chad continued. "Then everytime the two of you come to visit me, separately, too, what the fuck is that all about? You sound depressed. And I realize neither of you have moved on."

Chad leaned back against the tree and placed his hands behind his head. "So I'm talking to this angel, we're chilling on this cloud and I say, hey, you're bored lately, aren't you? And she says yes. So I say, wanna go down to Earth and help my two stupid friends move on from my death? She nods, all excited and begins jumping up and down on the cloud like an idiot. Those things, comfy as they are, are not fucking meant to be jumped on, at least not the one we were sitting on. The cloud we were on was a storm cloud."

"So I'm trying to be like, dude, stop fucking bouncing, you're going to wreck havoc on Earth and fall or something," he groans, "but does she listen to me? No. And then she slips on a watery part of the cloud and tumbles down to Earth, falling into your fucking treehouse."

Troy turned to Chad with wide eyes. "You sent Sharpay?"

Chad wrinkled his nose. "Is that the name you gave her? You named her after a dog? You named an _angel_ after a _dog_?"

"Hey!" Troy protested, "don't be knocking the name, the name is good! But_ you_ sent her?"

Chad nodded. "Well, yeah. I wanted her to help you guys move on. Unfortunately when she fell, she banged herself up in the treehouse and forgot me and why she was here. Angels are supposed to check in periodically to let us know how they're doing, but she didn't get around to doing it until a couple of weeks ago."

Troy froze. "Wait, a couple of weeks?" he remembered when Sharpay had escaped the house and they found her in the church. "Was that why—"

"She went to the church?" Chad filled in, "yeah, that's pretty much why. But of course when I see her and ask her how things are going, she's all, they are going terribly! This boy does not realize he's in love!"

Troy furrowed his brow. "But I thought you sent her here to help us move on?"

"I did!" Chad exclaimed, frustrated, "I totally did! But something happened to her here—she's been like, brainwashed with this fascination with human romantic love! She thinks her mission here is to get you and Gabs to fall in love!"

Troy stiffened before looking at Chad. "Um, so is that why she kept encouraging me to tell Gabriella I love her?"

"Yes!" Chad threw his hands up in aggravation, "that's exactly why! It's absurd, she is not getting the job done and there's going to be consequences for when she gets back upstairs! So I came here to do the job myself."

Troy was silent for a moment, considering everything Chad had said. "So you pretended to be Gabriella to text me to meet you here? Why didn't you just come to my house?"

"Pretty much, dude," Chad said. "And I picked here because I can't visit Earth any other way. It has to be at your grave. It's so morbidly gross."

"So why are you here?" Troy prodded. "If you're not an angel and angels are the ones that do good, then why did you come?"

Chad turned to him and clapped him on the shoulder. "I'm here to tell you that I don't blame you. What happened wasn't your fault."

"But it is. I'm sorry, Chad," Troy dropped his head and felt his eyes prick with tears. "It's because of me that you're dead."

"No, dude, it's not," Chad insisted, "it's because of the stupid drunk driver that hit your truck. You were being careful. It's not your fault."

Troy shook his head again. "No, you don't understand, I fucked everything up! You died and then Gabriella and I fell apart and now...now everything's a mess."

Chad retracted his hand and looked Troy straight in the eye. "You know what, Troy? You know what I've learned? That you can't spend life whining. You can't keep dwelling on the past or the bad things in life because it's too goddamn short."

"I'm here, which I could actually get in huge trouble for, to tell you that it's not your fault," Chad said simply, "to tell you to move on and learn to live again. Play basketball, go to school, have fun," he grinned suddenly, "kiss Gabriella. Stop dwelling on things that aren't your fault and start living again."

Troy broke their gaze. "It's not that easy, Chad."

"No, that's the thing, it is that easy," Chad said, "you have no idea how much it has royally sucked to be watching you and Gabriella fuck up each other's lives because you can't move on because of _me_. You two should be happy and you should be together and if anyone's messed anything up, it's me because you guys became to reliant on me to be the middle man that you can't deal with each other.'

"It's not that we can't deal with each other," Troy explained, "it's just that things are more complicated now. There's different factors."

Chad nodded. "You mean that thing about how you love each other?"

Troy looked at him, surprised. It sounded weird to hear someone else say it. "Um, yeah, I guess," he trailed off, "I kind of ruined everything because I was too dumb to see it."

Chad shrugged. "It happens, and yeah, you really fucked up. She was here crying the other night."

His heart broke at this information. How many times had he made Gabriella cry? "She was crying?"

"Yep," Chad confirmed, "she was kind of fed up with being invisible."

Running a hand through his hair, Troy felt his heart lurch further. "I didn't know. I was blind. I didn't mean to hurt her as much as I did."

"You still have time to make up for it," Chad said, "there's still time to make things right. I know you, Troy, and I know you can do it. I know you can make things right with her, especially since you love her. You've always loved her."

Troy looked up at him and smiled nervously. It was weird, no matter which way you looked at it. Here he was, sitting talking to his best friend's spirit about a girl. It was so ridiculously abnormal that it felt natural and Troy for one, was thankful for it.

"Yeah," he said. "I always have."

Chad grinned. "So make it right, dude." His eyes narrowed then. "But I swear to god, if you hurt her again I will come down here and throw lightning bolts at you. She's still like my little sister and I love her, too."

Rubbing his neck awkwardly, Troy nodded. It was like he was getting the third degree. "Don't worry about it, man," he said, "I don't think things are ever going to be the way they were...or the way I want them to be."

"And what way is that?" Chad asked, raising his eyebrows."

"I want to be with her," Troy said simply. "I just want to love her and be with her."

Chad smiled. "And you will. Give it time."

Troy hesitated before his next question. "She comes here a lot, right? I see the pennies she leaves."

"Yep," Chad said, "a little bit more than you, but that's because she cries more than you. I like listening to her, but I wish I could talk back. I miss her a lot. Can you tell her that?"

"Of course," Troy said, nodding. "Anything you want."

Picking up the basketball, Chad looked across the cemetery and sighed. "Okay," he said, "it looks like it's time for me to leave."

Troy stood, up, panicking. He didn't want him to leave, he wanted him to stay. Couldn't he stay here forever? "Do you really have to go?" he asked, "will I see you again?"

Chad shook his head sadly. "No, I don't think you will. I've done my part, something I shouldn't have even done. I'm not an angel, after all. But listen to Sharpay, okay? I know she's crazy and she didn't exactly do what I told her to, but she'll help you with Gabriella. I can guarantee it."

With that, he turned and stood, walking like he was floating on air. Dribbling the basketball, he bounced right and left, before raising the ball and tossing it to Troy. "Catch, Hoops!"

Extending his arm to catch the ball, Troy grabbed it as it landed in his hands, only to disappear a moment later. When he looked up, empty handed, he saw that Chad was gone.

Troy sat on the grass then, his knees feeling weak and shaky. He slumped against the tree and took a deep breath, trying to regain his bearings. It shouldn't have been so shocked; stranger things had happened in the last few weeks. Even still, he found that his heart was pounding so fast he was certain it was going to leap out of his chest.

That or he was going to die.

He heard the crunching of leaves against shoes and he looked up, slightly panicked. Who knew what kind of crazies wandered the cemeteries at night? Maybe it was Chad again? No, it was probably some dude with an ax wanting to chop him up into tiny pieces. Oh goddamnit.

Whatever Troy had been expecting, ax swinging murderer or otherwise, he had no been anticipating to see purple sneakers and dark, curly black hair. He blanched.

It was Gabriella. What was Gabriella doing here?

"Brie," he said breathlessly, standing up. "What are you doing here?"

She folded her arms over her chest, shivering slightly in the cool night air. "You said you wanted to meet here after I sent you the text message. So here I am."

He blinked, confused. "Wait, what? You actually sent me a text message?"

She nodded slowly, furrowing her brow in confusion. "Yeah, I did. I woke up feeling weird and...and I don't know. I like to think that you would have done the same for me, regardless of the circumstances."

"Wait, wait, wait," Troy said, trying to wrap his head around what was happening. It was all too confusing for this late at night. "So you, Gabriella you, you-you, you asked if I was okay?"

"Yes," she said slowly, as if she was speaking to a small child. "I couldn't help it. And then you said no and asked if we could meet here. I wasn't going to come, but I decided I would at the last minute. I just texted you ten minutes ago to let you know I was on my way."

Troy froze, his heart practically bursting. She texted him! She still cared! Gabriella Montez texted him to see if he was okay! God, this was the best night ever! He saw Chad and then Gabriella texted him and—Wait. She thought he texted her and asked her to meet him?

Troy registered the information, carefully putting the pieces together. "But I didn't text you," he said, "I thought you texted me to meet you here?"

Gabriella's mouth fell open and he could see the gears in her head working rapidly. "No, you texted me."

Troy shook his head. "Um, Brie, no, you see—"

"It was Chad, wasn't it?" she asked suddenly and Troy was stunned at how quickly she put things together. "He's the only one who would have suggested meeting here."

"Yeah, it was," Troy said carefully as he watched the colour drain from Gabriella's face. "I thought he just wanted to talk to me, hence why he tricked me into thinking that you texted me. I didn't know that he did it to you, too."

"Oh," Gabriella said softly, before falling to her knees in front of Chad's grave. "Oh. So...so you saw him, then? You spoke?"

He nodded, sitting down beside her. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. He tossed me a basketball and then told me to stop blaming myself. He says he misses you."

"Oh," Gabriella said again, her voice so quiet he could barely hear her. "Oh. Oh, I can't believe it."

Troy smiled weakly. "Stranger things have happened lately, Gabriella."

"No, I know that," she said aggravated, "I just...he was _here_. You got to _see_ him. After all this time, he was here. He listens when we talk to him, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, he does," he whispered, "he says he answers back, but we can't hear him."

Gabriella began to tremble then, and she brought her hands to her face and began to cry. Silently, yet hesitantly, Troy reached over and brought Gabriella into his arms. She didn't protest, instead leaned into him, and he felt his heart soar.

"I'm sorry, Gabriella," he said into her hair, "I'm sorry for what happened between us and how I handled it, I'm sorry about what I did at the dance, I'm sorry...I'm sorry for the accident."

She drew back from him slightly, but still did not break out of his grasp. "Troy, you must know not to be sorry about the accident. It wasn't your fault."

"But it was, Gabriella," he said sadly, "it was. I was driving. I should have been paying more attention."

"No," she insisted, "that idiot who hit us shouldn't have been drinking and driving. It's not your fault; no one could have seen it coming."

He swallowed thickly. "Gabriella, it's because of me that our best friend is dead. I took him away from his parents, from his friends, from us. I can't help but feel responsible."

"Troy," she pulled back entirely and placed her small hands on his face. "It is not your fault. It never was. I have never, not once, blamed you. Ever."

He was silent as she stroked his cheek. "But..."

"I'm sorry, too," she whispered, "I'm angry at you, but only because I'm hurt. It takes two to tango in this whole mess and it's not all your fault and I'm..." she paused, "I'm sorry about those awful things I said to you the other day at the dance. I didn't mean them. You didn't deserve them."

"Yeah, I did," he insisted, "I really, really did."

She shook her head. "No, you didn't," she sighed. "You're still my best friend, above all, and friends don't say things like that to friends."

He looked into her eyes that were still swimming with tears and he placed his hands over her own. "I love you, Gabriella," he said honestly, "I mean that with all of my heart. I am so sorry for all of the pain I've caused you."

"I know," she answered, smiling slightly. "I know. I know. I love you, too."

He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear then, before leaning forward and kissing her gently, sweetly. She responded just as softly, their lips moving against one another's hesitantly, carefully. They pulled apart and he rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

He felt content. He felt like for the first time in a year, things were starting to pull themselves together. He couldn't blame himself anymore for what happened to Chad. If he did, he was going to miss out on all of the good things his life had to offer him. School, basketball, friendship, a relationship with his parents.

Gabriella, he was going to miss out on Gabriella. After all this wasted time, he didn't want to miss one more thing.

He felt her warm breath fan over his lips and he opened his eyes to see her staring back at him. "Troy?" she said.

"Hmm?"

"I just need some time," she let out a shaky breath. "I just...a lot has happened over the last few weeks and I just need to think about some things, okay? I promise that I'm not going to leave you, though, I promise."

He looked at her warily. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yes. I know I've said I'm done with you a hundred times now, but," she enlaced their fingers and squeezed, "I'm not. Far from it. I'm in love with you and...and you love me, too."

"I do," he said earnestly, "I really, _really_ do."

"Then just give me some space to breathe for a few days. Just give me some time to figure all of this out and then, then we can talk," she said. "Is that okay?"

He smiled. "I can do that, honestly," he leaned down and kissed her once more, quickly before she could respond. "I can give you time."

She smiled back at him before unlinking their hands and zipping up her hoodie higher. "Okay," she said with a shiver and he saw the small goosebumps dotting her neck. "Sounds good."

Acting instinctively, he unzipped his own hoodie and pulled it off of his shoulders. Before she could protest, he draped it around her shoulders and zipped it up.

"Troy," she said, looking down at the red fabric that was now drowning her. "What are you doing it, take it back, you'll freeze!"

"No way," he said with a grin, "you know I run hot. You take it. You're so tiny you'll turn into a popsicle just walking home." He paused. "Speaking of walking home, can I walk you? I'll feel better knowing you got home safe."

She didn't respond right away and he prepared himself for the inevitable rejection. Just because she had kissed him and agreed to discuss things at a later date, it didn't mean that suddenly everything was better. But to his immense surprise, she merely smiled and nodded.

"Sure," she said, "I'd like that."

They walked the blocks home from the cemetery in silence, their hands enlaced. Troy was fairly certain his palm was sweaty as he held hers, his nerves around her getting the best of him. It should have felt weirder, he thought, holding her hand, should have felt foreign and wrong. But it didn't. It felt familiar and right, yet exciting and new and nerve wracking all at once.

When they arrived at her house, Troy walked her to the door. He felt the ridiculous urge to kiss her again, but refrained, figuring he had had two kisses tonight and he really shouldn't push his luck. So instead, he pecked her on the cheek and smiled.

"Let me know when time's up, Brie," he whispered before turning on his heel and making his way home, feeling lighter and more upbeat than he could ever remember.

---

Upon arriving home, Troy had walked upstairs and collapsed in his bed, completely and utterly spent, both emotionally and physically. The events of the night had taken his toll on him and in between seeing Chad and making up with Gabriella, his brain was completely and entirely scrambled.

He woke up nearly five hours later, just shortly after nine in the morning to loud, blaring pop music and rolled his eyes. The sounds of Britney Spears filled the house and he groaned. Sharpay was up, this was apparent, and she had for some reason forgotten once again that loud noises would pull one out of their slumber. She was literally the most inconsiderate angel in existence.

He groaned and rolled out of bed, his head pounding and his body stiff. Stretching, he walked downstairs and into the living room, where he found Sharpay dancing obnoxiously.

He watched with curious eyes as she waved her arms and shook her hips. If it were not for the huge, massive white wings on her back, she totally would have passed for a normal teenager, and for the first time since she had arrived in his treehouse, he found himself wondering about her life before she was an angel.

How did she die? Did she live a normal, happy life with a family and a home? When did she die? In the seventies, sixties, eighties? Chad said that angels were usually old-timers and had been around for at least twenty years. Did she have a boyfriend, friends, did she go to school? What kind of music did she like? Did she die painfully, was she ill or was it an accident like Chad?

He found himself wishing that she could understand English, that they could communicate better than using hand signals and movies and pictures. He stepped into the living room and turned down the music.

Whirling around, she glared at him and placed her hands on her hips, obviously annoyed that she had been interrupted. He grinned at her.

"Morning, Sharpay," he said cheerfully, "did you eat?"

She stared at him, slightly confused by his happy disposition. She nodded and pointed to the coffee-table, where a box of split open Trix was sitting, a carton of milk leaking onto the floor beside it from where she had punctured a hole in it. He sighed.

"Well, that's good, I guess," he came over and sat down on the couch. He could leave the mess for later. "What are you doing?"

She gave a little squeak and flew over to the other side of the room where she pulled out a stack of fairy-tale picture books that Gabriella had given her. She hugged them to her chest and opened one, pointing to the pictures animatedly. Troy smiled.

"You really like this romance stuff, don't you?" he asked and she nodded eagerly. "Were you in love once?"

Sharpay stiffened then, her eyes wide and Troy instantly felt bad. He was just so curious, but he shouldn't have brought it up. Sharpay, angel or not, was once alive and now she was dead. She couldn't have the luxuries of being in love and happy like he could.

"Sorry," he winced, "we don't have to talk about it." To his surprise, Sharpay shrugged and pulled her knees to her chest. "Well, I guess we can, then, if you want to."

She nodded eagerly and buried her face in her knees. "Was it a long time ago?" Sharpay nodded. "Do you miss him?" she nodded again. "Is that why you're so fascinated by this romance thing? Because you remember what it was like to be in love when you were human."

She nodded once more and let out a sigh. She pointed to her ring finger and traced a circle around it. His eyes grew wide. "You were engaged?"

Looking away sadly, she bit her lip. Sharpay looked to be about his age, maybe a year or two older. She had been so young when she was engaged! She must have been alive a long, long time ago.

"I'm sure he misses you, too, Sharpay," he answered. "Is he up...up there with you now?"

She shook her head and he furrowed his brow, confused. "Is he still alive then?" she shook her head again. Troy contemplated what this meant.

Either he was a robot, she was in love with a dog, or after she died, he fell in love and married someone else. Judging by the sad expression on her face, he figured it was the latter.

"It's never too late to fall in love, Sharpay," he said optimistically, so much in fact that he was genuinely shocked by his own nature. "You have forever to do that. I'm sure angels fall in love, too."

She looked at him and stared, before breaking out into a grin. She walked forward and threw her arms around him and he laughed as he hugged her back. When she pulled away, he rubbed his hands together and exhaled.

"Okay, so here's the thing," he said, "first off, I talked to Chad...and he told me I have to listen to you and that you will come up with something brilliant," he explained and she nodded eagerly. "So Miss Match, what do you have planned to get me to win Gabriella's heart? She's forgiven me, but I still need something to show her how much I care."

Clapping her hands excitedly, Sharpay flew over to the armchair where she had romantic movies piled high. She shoved them off and instead grabbed the shoebox of Gabriella's momentos he had collected over the years, and the scrapbook that Gabriella had made of the two of them.

Fluttering over to kneel in front of him, she handed him the shoebox and pulled a random photo of Gabriella out from the box. She pointed to Troy, then the box, then Gabriella. It took him a couple of minutes to comprehend what she was saying and Sharpay looked about ready to rip her hair out or cry by the time he had figured it out.

"Give Gabriella the shoebox?" he asked and she nodded. "But I like that stuff! That stuff's special!"

Sharpay sighed and pointed to Gabriella, then the scrapbook, then Troy. He caught on faster this time. "So, what, I give Brie her box and keep the scrapbook? Like an exchange."

Practically silently cheering in excitement, Sharpay grinned and flipped through the scrapbook until she stopped at a page and turned it around for Troy to see it. He frowned, confused.

On the page was a picture of he and Gabriella, sitting in the door of the treehouse, their legs dangling over the edge as they ate ice cream. They had to have been about seven years old, judging by their faces, and their hands were clasped in between them. He looked up at Sharpay curiously.

"Um, I don't get it," he said carefully, "this is a picture of me and Gabrielle eating ice cream and holding hands in the treehouse that you broke, in case you forgot. So I don't get—"

He paused, remembering the treehouse and it's significance. His eyes widened as Sharpay's smile increased.

"The treehouse," he whispered, "I fix the treehouse. That's it."

Two hours later, after a lot of hand signaling, Sharpay crying twice and punching Troy in the stomach once, he headed off to the warehouse in search for the things he was going to need to pull of the romantic gesture to end all other romantic gestures.

---

So do not know how I am doing this, it is so weird. I have most of the day off today, so I just wrote and managed to write this entire chapter from start to finish at school. What.

Two tracks this chapter! :) There's only two chapters after this, just so you all know~!


	10. Us

---

**The Cherubs**

Chapter Ten: _Us_

_---_

Troy and Gabriella then entered into an easy friendship, careful not to stretch the boundaries too far. Troy had found it difficult at first, knowing that there were all these feelings lingering between them and being unable to act on them. It was hard, sitting beside her in homeroom, talking with her at lunch and having to repress the urge to kiss her. Yet she had wanted time, needed time and he was going to give it to her.

It was the least he could do, after all.

Besides, how long had Gabriella been stuck with this feeling? Been saddled with the desire to push things farther, see where they could take them and ultimately having to pull back the reigns, take a deep breath and let it go? Worst of it all, she hadn't even the notion as to how he felt about her; it must have been infinitely more difficult than what he was going through. At least he knew she loved him back, at least he knew that at some point, there would be a them. They would be together.

She had no clue what was going to happen, whether they'd be something more or if they'd always be limited to the simple best friends title of their relationship. Decidedly, he had it easier, so it most certainly was going to abide by her requests.

Especially considering there was no chance telling what might push her away. It wasn't that he was being cautious; he was just being careful. Things were different now, had been getting progressively different since they had consummated their friendship...relationship...whatever it was. They were still adjusting, still easing into things.

They were working their way backwards. They had gone from being friends to sleeping with each other in the blink of an eye. There were so many steps in the middle that they had missed out on. They had missed the playful flirting and banter, the coy touches and lingering hands, the awkward glances and the shy whispers. They had missed out on first dates, first kisses, first, second and third base. It wasn't like they had to get to know each other; they already knew each other, quite well in fact. They just needed to get to know each other _that way_.

And so they were. Step by step, day by day, they learned and Troy found himself more comfortable with the idea everyday. It wasn't weird for him to look up at Gabriella and think of her as beautiful and it wasn't out of place for him to glance up and catch her smiling at him. On the odd occasion, in the car ride home after school, one of them would grasp the others hand and hold it, only letting going when they arrived home.

Still, as well as things were going, they needed to progress them at some point. They needed to move forward if they ever wanted to be something more than friends (and they really, really did). So with that thought in mind, Troy set his plans into motion.

It had been a stroke of pure genius, if you asked him, rebuilding the treehouse. Of course, Sharpay was taking all of the credit for it, and for the most part (if he was being honest), it was technically speaking, her idea, but it was a good one. Even if Chad hadn't encouraged him to go along with whatever it was she was going to have planned, he would have done it.

One Friday morning, a cool October one, Troy sat in homeroom, bopping his leg and feeling slightly more nervous than usual. Toady was an important day, a serious one and his stomach had been doing jump jacks since he awoke three hours earlier and Sharpay had launched into her hand movements that would instruct him for what she wanted accomplished that day. It wasn't complicated, their plan, but he hoped with every fiber of his being that it would work.

Just as he was contemplating getting up and running out of the room (it was that or vomiting), Gabriella stepped in and he felt his breath hitch in his throat and his cheeks grow hot. She had started dressing up again, not to the extremes she once had, but she wasn't decked out in jeans and t-shirts anymore. He felt his heart pound at the idea that she was doing it to entice him. He didn't need enticing, he was step away from falling at her feet and begging to be allowed to be in presence for the rest of eternity.

Even so, when she walked in wearing a soft grey v-neck t-shirt tucked into a black pleated shirt with matching black tights and black ankle boots, he couldn't help but smile. He too had debated between wearing the blue plaid shirt or the red plaid shirt for nearly ten minutes that morning, wondering which she would like best, until he remembered that she had said blue matched his eyes. Her hair was wavy and loose and her face free of make up. He found himself repressing the urge to run his fingers through her hair and skim them across her cheekbones.

"Hey," she said happily, her cheeks flushed from the cold or something else, he wasn't certain. "Good morning."

He smiled softly at her, his heart thumping. "Morning, Brie," his eyes grew softer as he gazed at her, "you look really pretty today."

She blushed brightly and he felt his heart skip another beat. "Thank you," she said bashfully, "I like your shirt."

He looked down at it in mock surprise. "Oh, really?" he said nonchalantly. "Just something I threw on."

She giggled, as if she knew the painstaking effort he had put into selecting it. She opened her mouth to say something next and Ms. Darbus chose that moment to enter. He found himself cursing the older woman as she began rattling off morning announcements.

He swallowed, realizing that the moment of truth was coming up faster than he had anticipated. Soon, Ms. Darbus was dismissing them and Gabriella was standing up to leave. It was here, the scariest moment of his teenage life thus far was here.

He caught her wrist as she started to walk off and his hand ran down the length of it. He held her fingers in his own and pulled her back to him. She looked at him curiously.

"What is it, Troy?"

Ducking his head slightly, he took a deep breath and squeezed her hand, lacing her fingers through his. "So we kind of started backwards, don't you think?"

She nodded, flushing and ducking her own head. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Yeah," he licked his lips, his throat feeling dry. "So I was thinking about that and I noticed something. We missed out on some stuff and I think we've been working on getting those things back, am I right?"

She nodded again and smiled. "Yes," she drew out the s, "what's your point? What are you getting at?"

"Well, there's one thing that I think would certainly aid in our progression," he stepped closer to her, "and that's why I'd like you to come over tonight."

"Huh?" she asked, slightly confused, "but I come over all of the time."

He shook his head. "Not recently you haven't. Not since...well, you know. And besides, it's not just going to be any kind of hang out. I was thinking it could be," he swallowed again, "you know. A date."

Her eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open slightly. "A date?" she gasped, "a date-date? Like a real date?"

"Yeah," he laughed, "a date-date. I um, have something I want to show you and stuff. So, will you come?"

For a split second, he thought she was going to say no. He thought she was going to deny him and that he'd be alone and that he'd have to back pedal again to get them to where they would supposed to be. But to his immense pleasure and delight, her cheeks only burned brighter and she nodded eagerly.

"Of course I'll come!" she said, slightly too eagerly for her liking. "I mean, you know, I don't have anything else better to do." She ran her thumb over his knuckles then and leaned up on her tip-toes, kissing his cheek gently. "I'll see you later."

As she turned then and walked down the hall, Troy gazed after her, a lopsided smile on his face as he turned in the opposite direction, a newfound spring added to his step.

---

It was with great hesitation and nervousness that Gabriella walked up the steps to Troy's house. She had been here hundreds upon millions of times over the course of her entire life, yet today she felt more apprehensive than she ever had. Today she wasn't just coming over with the intentions of watching a movie and hopefully having Troy wake up.

Today she was arriving for a date. A first date. Their first date.

It had been more than difficult, learning to trust Troy again and it was certainly easier said than done. Despite how well she knew him, she still felt herself scared that something would fall apart once they got going. That Troy was confused and that he didn't really want her the way that she wanted him. Romantic feelings were more than a little mind boggling at any age, but when it was a teenaged romance? Especially given their relationship and history? How much more complicated could you get?

There was also the fact that she had given herself so easily to him and he had called it a mistake, practically thrown it in her face. She was hurt by that, more than she ever had been over anything. So yeah, attempting to be his friend after that didn't seem likely.

Then he had shown up at the dance and thrown her for a loop, telling her he loved her and everything seemed out of place, all askew. He loved her, Troy loved her. She had waited for that moment for so long, and to hear him finally say it was enough to yank at her heart strings and demand to know why she was so afraid. Yet she held her ground and said no and sent him on his way and that was that.

Until she sent that damn text message and then Chad got involved. She had gone back to his gravesite the next day, thanking him for what he had done. He had forced them back together, something not even Sharpay was able to do, and she was always going to be thankful for it. Now maybe they could work things out. Now, just possibly everything would be okay. Though she still had a lot of thinking to do at this point, she realized that a life without Troy Bolton wasn't one she necessarily wanted to try out.

She wanted to be with him. He wanted to be with her. It should have been simple, but it wasn't, and she still found herself slightly uncomfortable as she rang the doorbell and waited for him to answer.

This was the make it or break it moment, she decided, the outcome of this date determining which way things would go from now on. Would they be friends or something more? If the date turned out poorly, she decided they'd probably be better off as friends and yeah, it sucked, but at least she knew. If the date went brilliantly, then she knew their love wasn't just a pipe-dream.

The door flew open a moment later and Troy stood before her, flustered and smiling. "Hey, Brie!" he said, almost awkwardly, before he bent down to quickly kiss her cheek in greeting. "Come in!"

Momentarily stunned at the kiss, she blinked twice before shaking her head and stepping inside. "Thanks for having me over," she said, though she did not know why. She had been here a million times, this was no big deal.

"Hey," he said, catching onto how weird this phrase was. "This may be a...a date, but it doesn't mean that you should view it completely differently. You're still Brie. This home is still your home."

She beamed at him and nodded, shrugging off her coat. "Um, okay. So did you, uh, what did you have planned?"

Taking her coat from her, he slung it over the banister before guiding her over to the living room where Sharpay was sitting, watching The Notebook. He scooped something up from the coffee-table before handing it to her with great flourish and a slight blush.

"These are for you," he said and she looked down to realize he was holding a small bouquet of pink daisies. She felt her heart swell and she thanked him, accepting them and bringing them to her nose. She was overcome them with their scent, remembering how they used to pick daises for their mothers as kids.

Gabriella always whined that she wished they were pink.

"You remembered..." she said thoughtfully, stroking the petals. This couldn't be coincidence, could it?"

"Ah, well," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "you were always complaining that they were white and that if they were pink they'd be so much prettier." He laughed, "you kind of made it hard to forget."

She laughed with him, feeling touched and elated. "Well, it's true," she looked into his eyes and felt her heart burst at the twinkle in them. "Thank you."

He shrugged. "You're welcome. But there's still something I need to get ready, so you just sit tight for a minute with Sharpay and watch this Ryan Gosling fellow you both love so much," he said, making his way out of the room, "I'll come get you when I'm ready."

Nodding, she came and sat down on the couch next to Sharpay, who was watching the movie with fascination written in her eyes. "Hi, Sharpay," Gabriella said softly, prodding her in the arm and the angel turned and grinned at her, registering her presence for the first time. She threw her arms around her and Gabriella laughed.

"I missed you!" she said, squeezing the angel as tightly as she could given the obstructive wings. "I'm sorry I haven't been around much. Things have been...you know, weird."

Sharpay nodded, pulling back, before she turned back to the movie. It was the scene where James Marsden's character proposed to Rachel McAdams' and Sharpay seemed utterly captivated by the sparkling ring. Gabriella frowned, remembering the story Troy had told her of the little backstory Sharpay had revealed to him.

"You really like romance, don't you, Sharpay?" she asked and the angel nodded, resting her chin in her hands. Gabriella sighed in agreement. "Yeah, it's something alright. A painful something, but something."

Sharpay looked over at her and Gabriella saw the sadness in her eyes. She swallowed. "Troy told me you were engaged?" When the angel confirmed this, Gabriella smiled weakly, "I'm sure he was nice. I'm sorry it didn't work out."

Shrugging, the blonde looked down and Gabriella inched closer, taking one of Sharpay's hands in her own and squeezing. "You really are something, Sharpay," she said, "I know things have been weird and between you and I, we've been causing a lot of trouble for Troy, but without you here...I don't know, things would have been so different, you know?"

"I don't have a lot of girl friends," she said quickly, "all I really have is Troy. And I love him, you know that...you knew it from the first time you saw us standing together. But he's still a boy and having you here, it's been wonderful. It really, really has. You're like the girl best friend I never had."

It was true. Gabriella had a few friends who were girls, like Taylor Mckessie, but they weren't really friends. They weren't there for her when she needed someone or when she wanted to drool over Taylor Lautner's chest. Sharpay, in her own way, had done this for her.

"I know you're all fascinated and enamored with this love stuff," Gabriella said, sticking out her tongue, "but there's more to life than romance, Sharpay. There is more to life than just romantic love. There's also friendship and through the few days we spent together, I'd like to think that you and I...that we're friends."

When she was finished, Sharpay threw her arms around her once more and Gabriella laughed. When they broke apart, she glanced over at the coffee-table and saw that a pencil case was sitting there. Reaching over, she grabbed it and fished around for a moment, before pulling out a a black permanent marking. Uncapping it, she lifted Sharpay's right hand and carefully drew a line all the way around the bottom of her ring finger, a few inches higher than her knuckle. Then in the center of it, she grew a small heart. When she was finished, it looked like Sharpay was wearing a ring.

"That's all you need, okay?" she said sweetly, dropping the marker back into her pencil case. "You don't need any romantic love and you don't need to be engaged, afterlife, human life or otherwise." She smiled and gave a little wink. "I know it seems weird, but it's true, okay?"

Sharpay stared at her hand in awe, running her left fingers over the draw on ring. Bringing her hand to her face, she leaned forward and kissed the drawing, before breaking into a grin. Gabriella giggled.

"That's the spirit," she said, "that's precisely the spirit."

Despite their conversation and the underlying message behind it, the two turned back to the movie and anxiously watched, swooning and sighing at the appropriate moments. A few minutes later when Troy finally reappeared, Gabriella felt her heart beat faster as he walked towards her.

"Hey," he said, extending his hand. "Follow me."

Grasping his hand within her own, she nodded and walked behind. She'd go anywhere with him.

---

He led her into the backyard and she instinctively closed her eyes, not wanting to see the destruction that was left in the wake of the storm on her dear treehouse. As they walked farther though, Troy still clinging to her hand, he urged her to open them and she did so.

Then she gasped.

Standing in front of her was the treehouse, completely reconstructed with a roof and all. She gulped as Troy let go of her hand began climbing the ladder. "What did you do?" she asked.

He shot her a cheeky smile over his shoulder. "Come up and see!"

She practically raced up the ladder, before pulling herself into the treehouse. It was almost exactly as it had been before, the only difference being that there were no battle plans mapped out on the wall. Other than that, it was exactly like their childhood getaway.

"You rebuilt the treehouse?" she asked shakily, her legs trembling slightly as she tried to steady her breathing. She knew he had mentioned that they should, but as a home for Sharpay. She had never suspected that he would try to rebuild their childhood playground.

He nodded slowly, "Um, yeah, I did," he said slowly. "It didn't seem right leaving it the way it was...all broken and demolished. This place held a lot of memories for us."

She walked around slowly, as carefully as she could. "How did you do all this?" she whispered, her voice wavering. "Where did you...I don't...how?"

"Um," he cleared his throat, "it wasn't easy. I kind of suck with tools, so if the floor falls out from underneath us, I'm sorry," he smiled slightly, "but Google helped a lot. Did you know you can watch tutorials on Youtube on how to build a treehouse?"

Despite herself, Gabriella laughed. "Really? I didn't know that."

He smiled goofily. "Yeah, you can," he said, coming to stand beside her and taking her hand. "But you can find almost anything on Youtube."

"Just like you can find anything on Wikipedia?"

He nodded. "Pretty much," he gazed over to the box and the picnic basket he had brought up with them. Gesturing over the blanket and pillows he had set up, he smiled. "Want to sit down?"

She looked at the area curiously. What was he up to? "Sure," she said, allowing herself to be dragged over to the spot. As she settled on the ground, she twisted her hands nervously. She hadn't been on a date in ages and even then, it hadn't held such high stakes. It wasn't Troy she was with. It did hold the potential that this...this date thing they were doing did.

"Kay, I feel like a cheesy loser for doing this, but whatever," Troy admitted, pulling the picnic basket over to them. "I brought us food. We both know I'm broke, so it's not like we can go to a fancy restaurant to eat and besides, I figured this might be a little more...special. I don't know, if you think it's lame, tell me."

He extended the basket to her, as if afraid that if he looked inside at it's contents, he'd decide it was epically ridiculous and throw it out the window the treehouse. She sent him a bemused look before opening the lid and looking inside.

There were paper plates, plastic cups and forks and napkins, but beneath them was a bottle of orange soda, a bag of gummie bears and a plate of waffles in seranwrap. The combination under any other circumstance would have seemed completely gross and weird, three foods you would never really put together. But upon seeing them, Gabriella burst into a smile and couldn't hold back the small squeal of delight.

"You like it?" Troy asked and she was shocked that he still looked nervous. He had picked all of her favourite foods and had combined them in some weird pseudo-dinner. Of course she loved it, it was one of the most thoughtful things anyone had ever done for her.

"Trying to win me over with gummie bears again, Bolton?" she asked, quirking and eyebrow as she began to pull out the plates. Troy rubbed his neck.

"No!" he protested pointedly, "I just know you like all of that stuff, so I figured I might as well, you know? Make it nice for you and...I don't know, if you hate it, feel free to feed it to the birds. Or Sharpay, I don't—"

"Troy," she interrupted, crawling over to come sit next to him. "It's perfect. Thank you."

Her words hit him harder than he had expected and he blushed, ceasing his rant. He took in how she was pulling things out of the basket and placed a hand on her wrist. "Hey, stop that," he said, "let me."

"No, Troy, it's okay," she insisted as he took the basket from her. He tapped her on the nose and she paused.

"Brie," he said with a laugh, "just let me spoil you for like, five seconds, okay? It'll make me feel better."

She shut up then and allowed him to pour her a cup of soda and place a couple of waffles on her plate. Smiling even wider, she happily dug into them as the warm smells wafted up to her nose.

Sitting in Troy's treehouse, she suddenly felt at home. She felt content and she felt safe and she knew that part of it was because this was her childhood, boxed up in a tiny space with four walls, toy robots and beanbag chairs. Another part of her, though, the bigger part, knew it mostly had to do with the boy sitting next to her, eating his waffles with out a fork. She looked at him and smiled and when he caught her glance, he cocked an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked, "do I have something on my face?"

She nodded. "Yeah," she pointed right above his lip, "right here."

He wiped at his mouth quickly, trying to brush the crumbs away. "Is it gone?"

"No," she shook her head, frowning, "it's still there. Right here, Troy, right here." She pointed to her mouth again and he wiped more furiously.

"What about now?" he said, frustrated, "is it gone now?"

"Ugh, I can't believe you keep missing it!" she said with a roll of her eyes, "seriously, it's right here!"

Sitting up on her knees, she moved forward and placed her hand on his cheek, before looking down into his eyes. She smiled coyly. "Maybe I should get it for you."

With that, she bent down and kissed him on the lips. The kiss was slow, sweet and full of a sense of comfortableness that neither had anticipated. She trailed her tongue across his upper lip, over the dip in his cupid's bow, the spot she had kept indicating to as his hands traveled up her sides to grip her waist and pull her closer to him.

It was time to let go. It was time to learn to trust and be with Troy and there was no better time than the present. She felt lighter, more complete as his fingertips dug into her hips and as his tongue explored her mouth. She was so, so close to him in every single way possible and she was practically overcome at the emotions, at the depth of it all.

He had melted into her almost instantly, feeling her soft lips drag languidly over his. She tasted like orange soda and waffles and something else that he couldn't decipher, but was wonderful all the same. Kissing Gabriella was wonderful, he decided. Pulling back, he took in her lazy smile and sighed.

"It's been a while since we kissed in here, huh?" he asked with a silly smile and she giggled, setting herself in his lap.

"Yeah, it has," she agreed as she placed her arms around his neck, "gosh, we were such silly children."

He shrugged. "Maybe, but it was still special. You were my first kiss and I was yours."

A beat passed between them in which a million words were left unsaid. They were also each others firsts in a different way. A maybe, with some luck, they'd also be each other's lasts. In that moment, there was nothing they wanted more.

"I have something I want to show you," he whispered and she furrowed her brows, confused.

"I thought you just wanted to show me the treehouse?" she asked, "and if I'm not mistaken, we are currently sitting in it."

Troy reached behind him, bringing the box that had been beside the picnic basket to sit in front of them. "Yeah, that was one part," he said, "but that wasn't what I really wanted to show you."

He set the box down and she looked at it, her eyes growing wide as she read the name on the top of it. She traced her fingers over it. It was her name, her nickname.

"What..." she paused, "what is this?"

"This," he said swallowing nervously, "is a box of things that you've given me over the years. Stuff like notes we used to pass during freshmen year geography, every single stupid Valentine's Day card we've ever exchanged, random photographs of you. Ticket stubs from concerts and movies and just...just stupid shit like that."

She opened the box slowly, looking inside at the different things he had collected over the years. Surely, just as he had said, there were things from every year of their friendship in there. She felt her hands shake as she began to look through it, recognizing her hand writing and her face in so many different items.

"Why?" she asked, "why did you keep all of this?"

"Well," he began, his arms tightening around her as he shifted her on his lap to look over her shoulder, "my mom started it. She wanted me to keep certain things for me to remember and that was mostly photos. But I thought just photos were lame and I thought the whole idea was lame, but I still kept adding to it anyways."

"The thing was," he continued, "I never fully grasped why I was keeping them all you know? Why it was so important that I not throw out these stupid notes you used to pass me. Why I wanted to keep them. And now, looking at it, I know why. It's because I love you. It's because I've loved you all along."

She felt a tear slip down her cheek, her heart practically exploding at the vulnerability in his tone. He loved her, he really did love her. "You love me," she repeated, as if trying to get used to the idea.

He nodded, swallowing. "I do. I'm not going to lie, it scares the shit out of me. I've never been so fucking scared in my life. But," he kissed her jawline, "I can't help but think that it's the good kind of scary. I like this kind of scary."

"So I figured," he began, "that you take this box and keep it. That way when I do something sucky, if you ever have doubts, you can remember how much you mean to me. And I'll keep your scrapbook for the same reason. However," he reached behind him again, pulling out an empty Nike shoebox, "we take this shoebox and make it our own. From now on keep all the things that are special to us. Ticket stubs, Valentine's Day cards that will actually mean something, all of it. That way we can remind ourselves that we shouldn't need reminders."

She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him passionately then, before pulling back and looking him in the eyes. "I love you," she said, "I love you so, so much."

"I love you, too," he said, grinning. "Just as much. You're my best friend, Brie. You're my favourite. You're my number one."

"You're my number one, too," she said softly, sniffling slightly. He brushed away her tears with the pad of his thumb.

"What do you say?" he asked, "want to be an us? A we? A them? An obnoxious couple?"

She laughed, leaning her forehead against his. "I wouldn't want it any other way."

They kissed then, happily and excitedly. As they sat in each others arms, eating the rest of the food and talking, Gabriella turned to him suddenly with a content smile on her face.

"Chad would have liked this," she murmured before leaning down to kiss him once more. "He's proud of you. Of us."

Troy nodded, pulling her even closer to him. "Yeah. I think you're right."

Inside the house, Sharpay had cuddled up on Troy's bed, feeling suddenly exhausted and lightheaded. As she took a deep breath and the pair in the treehouse kissed for the thousandth time that evening, she felt her body grow lighter and lighter as her eyes closed and she felt into a bright light, before turning to dust and disappearing completely.

---

Troy was first to wake up the next morning, he and Gabriella cuddled on the couch together from where they had fallen asleep the night before. His eyes stretched open slowly at the morning light and he groaned, shifting Gabriella in his arms slightly. Glancing to the side, he saw that the menu screen for the DVD they had been watching was still playing on the television and he sighed before leaning down and nuzzling his face into Gabriella's hair.

She smelled so lovely, he thought, she looked so lovely, so peaceful. He wanted to move, the blood flow having stopped long ago in his legs and torso, but at the same time he didn't dare want her to leave his embrace. Running his hand over her back, he smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

He never wanted her to leave.

She was his now, officially and entirely. She was not only his best friend, but she was also his girlfriend. He felt practically giddy at the words and a giant smile spread across his face. She loved him! Gabriella! She loved him!

The prospect that he not only had someone who he loved, but who loved him back was thrilling. Everyday for the rest of his life, he could tell her loved her and with some luck and hope, she would say it back. It was a ridiculous feeling and he knew it was one he wasn't going to be sick of any time soon.

So instead of getting up and starting his day, he lay there, watching as she slept and nodding off into a light sleep himself. Eventually, he felt her stir and she lifted her head from his chest, yawning. He felt himself smile again. Gosh, she was so cute.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," he murmured, and she looked up at him with blurry eyes. "Sleep well?"

Despite the fact that she had used him as a pillow and the couch wasn't exactly comfort-city, he had slept rather pleasantly. To his delight, she nodded and pressed a sloppy kiss to his chin. "Yeah," she yawned again, "I did."

Resting her own chin on his chest she looked up at him. "Good morning," she whispered, bringing her hand up to rest on his cheek. He leaned into her touch.

"It is," he said just as quietly, "a good morning, I mean."

She giggled. "I know."

For a brief moment, there was slight tension, slight anticipation. What was going to happen next? Were they going to move? Were they going to close the small gap between them?

Troy leaned forward first and Gabriella followed suit, meeting him halfway, their lips connecting in a chaste, sweet kiss. When they pulled apart, they both wore lazy, happy smiles and Troy pecked her on the nose.

"You hungry?" he asked and she nodded.

"Starving, actually," she smiled up at him cheekily. "You want to make breakfast?"

He laughed. Some things would never change. They'd be old and gray with grandchildren and Gabriella would still be prodding him to cook. Or at least, he hoped this would happen.

"Sure," he responded, sitting up as she rolled off of him. "Anything you want."

She paused, smoothing out the fabric of her dress before debating what she wanted. "Feel like making waffles?"

He grinned, nodding. "Like I said, anything you want." He grabbed her hand and began to lead her out of the living room into the kitchen. When they arrived, he walked over to the fridge and began digging out the ingredients he was going to need as Gabriella jumped up onto one of the barstools and watched, her chin resting her in hands.

"I've always liked watching you cook," she admitted, "you never seem to have enjoyed it, much, but you always put in a lot of effort. I love that about you."

Looking over his shoulder, he smiled at her. "Ah," he said, setting the milk and a carton of eggs on the table, "I knew there was a reason you loved me. I mean, a girl like you? Could do so much better."

She laughed. "Yeah, that's what they tell me." He stuck his tongue out at her and she felt her heart trip over itself. Oh, how things were exactly the same yet completely different. Either way, she knew she could get used to this.

As Troy prepared the ingredients and Gabriella watched silently, the phone rang. Not glancing at the caller ID, she picked up the phone and pressed it to her ear.

"Good morning, Bolton residence," she said cheerfully, "how may I help you?" Troy laughed at her and rolled his eyes, figuring it was just a telemarketer or the like. He looked at her curiously though, when her eyes grew slightly wide.

"Oh!" she said, "Mrs. Bolton! How are you? It's been forever..."

Troy stilled his movements, no longer stirring the batter. His mother? She never called this early. What as up? "It's my mom?"

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah, things have been good on our end, too," she said casually, "we were just up late watching a movie and fell asleep on the couch. It was really boring."

He tensed, wondering why his mother was so obviously unconcerned about why Gabriella was around so early, when it hit him. She didn't know what had transpired between them in the last few weeks. When it came down to it, she didn't even know how much things had changed between them in the year since Chad's death. So to her, to hear that Gabriella had spent the night was completely normal.

He wondered then if his mother would ever truly know him again. Ever truly know Gabriella. As long as she was there and he was here, he somehow doubted it. He had given up on his father long ago, but his mother he still had hope for.

"Hold on, just a sec, he's right here," Gabriella covered the mouthpiece for a moment, "Troy? Your mother wants to talk to you."

Troy nodded and wiped his hands on a towel, taking the phone from Gabriella. "Let's switch, you go pour the batter in the iron and I'll talk to my mom," he said, coming over to where she was sitting. He kissed her cheek briefly before swiping the phone out of her hand as she hopped off the stool.

"Kay, but if I screw it up, you're calling poison control," she said seriously, "or the fire department, whichever."

Chuckling to himself, he lifted the phone up to his ear. "Hey, mama," he said hesitantly, "what's up?"

"I'm just checking in," she said, "things have been hectic here for your father and it gave me a little down time, so I figured I'd see how my only son was doing."

If he had been in a bad mood, Troy would have scoffed at this notion. "Oh, yeah? Well, I'm doing okay. Like Brie said, we're here making waffles and stuff."

His mother paused and when she spoke, her voice was quiet and solemn. "Oh? That sounds like fun!" she said, sounding like she thought it was anything but. "Good to know you two are taking care of each other, after all."

Gabriella looked at him then, as hearing his mother and their eyes met. He smiled at her softly and she smiled back. "Yeah," he said, "we're lucky to have each other."

"I miss you, Troy," his mother whispered, "a lot. You know that right?"

He did know that. He knew that the separation wasn't easy for any of them and while he hated it more than any of them, he was able to see how it affected his parents, too. That would let go of the resentment, though.

"I know, mama," he sighed, "I miss you, too."

When he hung up, he felt like another small weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He wasn't going to have a relationship with his parents any time soon, nor was he going to probably even seen them before Thanksgiving. Either way, though, the knowledge that they were still on each other's minds gave him enough comfort to know that one day, maybe, they could be close again.

He watched as Gabriella stared at the waffle iron, as if challenging it to burn their waffles and came to stand behind her. Looping his arms around her waist, he pressed another kiss to her hair. God, he couldn't stop touching her, kissing her. This was so awesome.

"Wanna go upstairs and see if Sharpay's awake?" he asked, "I mean, if you want to make it just a breakfast for the two of us, that's fine. But I figure it'd be best to feed her before she gets cranky."

Gabriella nodded and slipped out of his grasp. "No, it's okay, I'll go get her now. You're probably right, she's going to be hungry."

She leaned up and kissed him once before making her way upstairs. He stood there like an idiot, shocked at the sweetness of her lips before grinning like a loon and going back to carefully preparing the waffles.

Just as he slid them onto their plates, however, Gabriella came bounding down the stairs. "Troy!" she called and he turned around quickly to see her standing there, looking panicked, her face pale.

"Brie?" he asked, "what's wrong?"

"It's Sharpay!" she said quickly, "she's gone!"

The two ran up the stairs at record speed and when they arrived in Troy's bedroom, he gasped. On the bedspread where Sharpay had been sleeping where thousands upon thousands of feathers, long, white and crisp, and the lightest sheen of silver shimmer. His mouth fell open.

"W-where..." he trailed off, "where did she go?"

Gabriella shrugged helplessly. "I don't know," she said sadly, "but these are her feathers. Do you think she's hurt? Do you think something happened?"

Walking over to the bed, Troy reached down and grabbed a single feather in his hand. He shook his head. "No," he said simply, "I think it was just her time to leave. She did what she needed to do and now...now she's gone."

Beside him, Gabriella began to cry, muttering about how she was going to miss her and Troy pulled her into his arms. Sharpay was gone, their angel, their guardian and matchmaker had fulfilled her duty and now she was gone.

They sat on the floor in front of the bed that morning, their waffles abandoned on the kitchen counter downstairs.

---

Please go download this chapter's track, it is my favourite thing everrr.

This goes out to Nel, who is probably gone now and won't be able to read it. But I will miss you, darling. :( Come back to us soon! 3

PS I AM AWARE THAT THIS THING IS LITTERED WITH ERRORS, CHILL, I'LL FIX THEM LATERRRRRR.


	11. Grocery Stores

This last chapter is dedicated to my girl, Silvia. Happy birthday, darling!

---

**The Cherubs**

Chapter Eleven: _Grocery Stores_

---

"Troy, put them back, we don't need them!"

"But Brie, they're on sale!"

"I don't care if they're free, they're garbage and we don't need them! Put them back on the shelf!"

A scoff. "Why do you always get to decide what we buy?"

A glare. "Because if it were up to you, our entire fridge would be filled to the brim with junk food and beer!" The dark haired woman pushed the shopping cart forward slightly, clipping her boyfriend's hip.

Said boyfriend rolled his eyes. "That really shouldn't matter, I do all of the cooking!"

"Hey!" she bristled, "I'm still trying to learn!"

"Gabriella," twenty-three year old Troy said, "I've known you basically my whole life. I've cooked for you since we were fourteen. We've lived together for the last three years. You've cooked a total of fifteen times."

The girl in question pouted. He wasn't lying, and if anyone were to know how often (or rather, how rarely) it would be her best friend of forever and her boyfriend of six years. "That is completely irrelevant. Can you just put them back? We'll get something else in place of them, I promise."

Troy pouted. "You always say that and when I'm not looking, you take the replacement out of the cart."

Reluctantly, he placed the box of Fruit Roll Ups back onto the shelf. He sighed and looked at Gabriella with wide, sad eyes.

"Do you want me to be sad, baby?" he asked, "I need the candy. I want the candy. We can totally give them to our guests when we have people over."

Gabriella rolled her eyes and pushed the cart past the snack aisle. "Troy, the only company we have over consistently is Jason and Kelsi and I can tell you that neither of them particularly consider Fruit Roll Ups to be good party food. Maybe Jason, but not Kelsi and I refuse to serve them. Plus that won't even happen," she said as they turned down the cereal aisle, "we'll get home and you'll eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

Troy rolled his eyes. "Okay, that it's it, I'm dumping you," he said as she came to a stop and he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I think our differences are too vast and too many and I don't think this is going to work out. I am sorry."

She elbowed him in the ribs in response. "Oh, right, you sure you want to do that."

He nodded, resting his chin on the top of her head as she surveyed the selections. "Yep. One hundred percent positive. I don't need someone who won't let me buy Fruit Roll Ups."

"Good luck trying to find a best friend that will sleep with you, then," she said leaning forward to grab a box of Corn Flakes. It was an awkward lean, Troy's grasp around her hips unrelenting and it made movement difficult. Some she still managed, and dropped the box into the cart, pushing it along as Troy waddled behind her.

"On second thought, you're right," Troy said, "plus after university, I don't want to do the roommate thing again. I guess I kind of enjoy having you around."

It had been six years since Sharpay had fallen through Troy's treehouse and forced her match-making ways upon him. As he looked back on it over the years, he realized she didn't help a whole lot, but she had still made a massive impact on he and Gabriella's lives. They had been living together for the last three years after finishing their undergrad studies in California together and now resided in Pal Alto. Their apartment was quaint and small and at times completely messy, but Troy still cooked well and Gabriella still cleaned up after him, so overall, it worked out nicely.

They fell into the comfort and ease of a relationship quickly after Sharpay left. In so many ways, it was like nothing had changed, except for they kissed and held hands, went on dates and celebrated anniversaries and when they said they loved each other, it was in a completely different way than before.

Together they had accumulated nearly twelve shoeboxes over the years, filled with cards and movie tickets, photos and e-mails from when they were apart for school (which wasn't often with Troy at Berkeley and Gabriella at Stanford). A lot of their friends called them mushy, ridiculous pack-rats. They called themselves sentimental.

They were still the best of friends, would always be each other's best friends. There were times when they would be so angry with each other, but completely unable to stay mad. Troy would tackle Gabriella and she would laugh and they'd kiss and it would all be over.

For many years they had debated about where Sharpay had gone, what she was doing, but it was completely useless in the long run. They had absolutely no clues and no answers; all they knew was that they'd forever be thankful for her.

(However, Troy was still a little miffed that she broke the treehouse, even though it was rebuilt.)

"You guess you like having me around?" Gabriella said, turning in his arms slightly. "I think that's completely unfair."

He shrugged, "It's true, though," he shot her a grin, "though if you let me get Lucky Charms, I'd totally love you more than I already do."

She pursed her lips, debating about whether or not it was worth it to debate the matter, make him give up having sugary cereal. With a sigh and a wave of her hand, she gave her consent.

"Oh, whatever, get the damn marshmellow cereal, see if I care," she said reluctantly and Troy punched his fist in the air in victory before grabbing the box off the shelf.

As he placed it in the cart, he grinned at her brightly. "This is pretty domestic of us, huh?" he asked.

Pushing the cart down the aisle, she giggled despite herself. "Well, after all this time, I think you could call us pretty domesticated."

Troy felt another goofy smile spread across his face. He'd never get tired of this.

"I like it," he murmured, leaning down to peck her lips. "I like it a lot."

She smiled a lazy smile. "I like it, too."

"Excuse me?" a slightly irritated voice came from behind them. "Could I just get by you?"

Troy tried not to roll his eyes at the clipped tone, before moving out of the way slightly. "Yeah, sure, sorry," he said, glancing at Gabriella to shoot her an annoyed look. When he looked at her, however, her face was pale and shocked.

"Brie, you okay?" he asked, stepping forward to place a hand on her waist. Her mouth fell open and she shook her head.

"No, I," she trailed off. "Sharpay?"

Troy's head snapped to the side, looking at the woman who had requested he moved. She had long blonde layered hair, brown eyes, her cheekbones high and defined, and her mouth like a small pink bow. She looked just like Sharpay.

The woman blinked at them, looking them over curiously as she held a box of cereal in her hands. She folded her arms over her chest, the many strands of pearls she was wearing clinking slightly as she moved. "Yes? May I help you?" 

Troy and Gabriella exchanged a look. Her name was Sharpay, she responded to the name. What was she doing here? How did she get here? Last they had seen her they had been seventeen and well, she had had wings. Now she appeared to be human and regarding them with extreme distaste.

Gabriella swallowed and Troy tightened his grip on her. "H-how did you get here?"

Sharpay frowned, furrowing her brow. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" she asked, "how do you know my name? Are you interested in the drama classes?"

Gabriella shook her head. "No, I—drama classes?"

Sharpay nodded. "Yes," she said, as if speaking to children. "That's how you know me, correct? From the advertisements on television?"

Troy and Gabriella looked at each other in confusion. "No, it's us, it's," she trailed off, "it's Troy and Gabriella."

She looked at the woman for a moment, trying to see if there was a flicker of recognition, a sign that she knew who they were, that she was what they hoped she was. Instead she just wrinkled her brow and tossed her hair over her shoulder haughtily.

"I'm sorry," she said simply, "I have no idea who you are. But in case you do ever want drama lessons," she said, "here's my card."

She dug into her oversized leather handbag and produced a hot pink sparkly card. 'Sharpay Evans-Baylor's School of Drama and Dance' was written in bold, curly script above a phone number and e-mail. Troy reached out to take the card and as he did, Gabriella gasped.

"Oh my god," she said, grabbing Sharpay's hand and inspecting her right fingers. "Oh..."

Troy looked at her in confusion, and then back down at Sharpay's hand. On her right ring finger was a tattooed black ring with a scribbled heart in the middle. He blanched.

Gabriella had told him of her last conversation with Sharpay, how she had drawn the heart on her finger. It was there, on her finger. It was her, it was Sharpay.

Sharpay stared at them and stepped back slightly. A loud call of "Babe!" was heard and her head whipped around.

"Coming, Zeke!" she called and a man with dark skin and hair turned around the corner. Her eyes lit up when she saw him. "It was, um, nice to meet you?" she said simply before whirling around and walking over to him, looping her hand with his.

When she was gone, Troy and Gabriella stared at each other in wonder, Troy pocketing the business card as they finished their shopping in silence, completely stunned at the events that just took place.

Later, when they arrived home, they called the number on her business card. It wasn't in service.

---

I can't for the life of me explain how exactly Sharpay came to us, other than it was Chad's doing. But Chad never visited again, so I was never able to ask him these things, get him to elaborate explain each of these answers in detail. It's unfortunate, yet it's probably for the best.

Just as I can't explain how she came to us, I'm unable to explain how she appeared in a random grocery store in California. We never saw her again and no matter how many Google searches we did, the result was always the same: Sharpay Evans-Baylor's School of Drama and Dance simply did not exist.

It's a tricky thing, the inexplicable, but so much of life is like that. Impossible to understand, impossible to know, and impossible to grasp. Life, death, love; so much of it is based on not really knowing, on living ignorantly. We don't know why we as humans are here, we don't know why we die and we don't know why we fall in love. All we really have, the only thing that leads us is faith.

Faith that you're living life for a purpose, faith in those you love and faith in yourself. Faith that it will all work out.

It's the times of your life where you don't have faith that you struggle, where nothing makes sense and you beat yourself up over things you can't control. Where you are unable to see the beauty in the simplistic things, or the beauty in the complicated things, such as your best friend. We all have these struggles, these bad times, and sometimes all we need is a little push.

And at seventeen, I need a push. What I really needed was a whack in the head, but Gabriella's too nice and Chad wasn't there to give it. So instead, I got a guardian angel.

Gabriella thinks Sharpay might still be out there somewhere, holding that man's hand and cruising up and down the aisles of grocery stores worldwide. I like her theory; it's warm, simple and full of fantasy. I like to think that she came to check up on us, make sure everything was okay.

The thing is neither of really know for sure, but it's good to suspend belief in those things. To believe that everything is okay, will be okay, and will work out for the best in the end. To suspend belief in things, like love and friendship.

If there's anything I learned from this whole ordeal (besides how much of an idiot I was), it's that those are the most important things in life. Everything else is secondary.

---

And it's finished. :) No crazy thank yous this time around, just one to each and everyone one of the girls on FF for their support and all of you who read and reviewed. :)

Hit up my LJ for album art and a full mix of all of the fic's songs!


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